BENGALURU: The 2010 Carlton Towers fire accident is still etched in the memory of Bangaloreans where people jumped to death on Old Airport Road from a blazing tower. Nurse Arul Beulah Jasmine was a staff nurse then working in Manipal Hospital that was 800m away from the site of the fire. Arul was recently honoured with the Florence Nightingale Award for disaster management, both in the Carlton Towers tragedy and one at Malathi Manipal Hospital last year where patients were evacuated because of smoke.
The Florence Nightingale Medal is the highest international distinction that can be awarded to a nurse. It recognises exceptional courage and devotion towards caring for victims of a natural disaster, exemplary services, creative and pioneering spirit in the areas of public health or nursing education. Currently, a nursing superintendent at Malathi Manipal Hospital with 107 nurses reporting to her, the 38-year-old says last year her 80-bedded hospital was filled with smoke due to a short circuit in the first floor and that is when she had to take the initiative to evacuate patients.
“On 13 June last year, I was on rounds in the morning and I was informed that there is a smoke. I got the nurses to evacuate babies and there was a deaf and dumb mother in the corridor who was waiting for delivery. She wasn’t aware of what was happening. We initially shifted them to the third floor but later the smoke spread so we had to shift everybody out of the building,” Arul said.
“At a time, our hospital can accommodate 80 to 90 patients in our three-storeyed building. We were certified by the fire department after the incident but we had fire drills from the beginning. First, we need to assess what type of fire it is and we should also know how to operate a fire extinguisher. We have to issue a code red to alert the concerned immediately,” she added.
Of the 2010 tragedy she said, “There were eight to nine deceased. We were responsible for last minute care and handing over of the bodies. We rushed to the casualty. We were swamped with patients so we had shift them to the conference hall. It wasn’t me alone. It was a team work.”