Afire broke out in the Critical Care Unit (CCU) of the Covid Block at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital in Siliguri today. There was, however, no report of any casualty.  NBMCH doctors and technical staff evacuated all the seven patients from the CCU. The incident has given rise to questions on the monitoring of the system in hospitals.

NBMCH superintendent Dr Sanjay Mallik said fire started fin the high flow nasal oxygen (HFNO) device that helps patients breathe. “Biomedical engineers will ascertain the cause of the fire,” Dr Mallik said. As the fire broke at around 9 am in the CCU on the ground floor of the block, an employee of the ward masters’ office, Sajal Dutta, medical technologist Palas Roy, and Dr Ravi Kumar sprang in to rescue the patients, it is learnt.

“They were among the first responders. Mr Roy has undergone fire fighting training and he responded immediately with fire extinguishers and successfully doused the flames. Window panes were broken to bring the fire under control. Dr Kumar and Mr Dutta started rescuing the Covid-19 patients and shifted all the seven of them to the nearby high dependency unit on a war footing,” an official said.

Mr Dutta shifted two Covid-19 patients by carrying them in his lap, it is learnt. Two fire tenders, meanwhile, rushed to the spot. Sources said the fire broke out from one of the six HFNOs at bed number 6. According to doctors, one HFNO machine supplies 60 litres of oxygen per minute to a patient with respiratory distress. Some doctors said the authorities should have been more cautious with the critical equipment.

“A disaster was averted with the prompt response, but there should be proper monitoring and maintenance as far as the critical care equipment is concerned. The fourstoried Covid Block was prepared on an emergency basis but priority should be given to check the equipment. Such a step might have avoided the incident. A number of fire incidents have occurred in health facilities where patients suffering from Covid-19 had been admitted in the country,” said a senior doctor.

Meanwhile, issuing an order on 12 May, the state health department had directed focusing on the examination of fire fighting infrastructure at medical colleges and hospitals. Some fire incidents have occurred at the NBMCH in the recent past.

A ventilator fire at the CCU led to the death of a patient on 27 September in 2019, and fire broke out at the Sick Newborn Care Unit on 18 August last year. In September the same year, an oxygen cylinder had caught fire through a burning mosquito repellent coil used for a patient in a ward.

On the other hand, engineers of the PWD electrical division said they examined the electrical circuit, loose connection, power distribution boards, sub stations, and functioning of air conditioned machines at the NBMCH.

“The electrical services have been upgraded with modern protective equipment for the comfort and safety of the patients. The ceiling fans in the CCU were replaced with residual current circuit breaker protection,” said an engineer.