HYDERABAD: Several cancer patients had a narrow escape when a major fire broke out in the blood bank of the MNJ Institute of Oncology, Hyderabad, on Wednesday morning. Amidst the chaos, the duty doctor and other staffers safely evacuated patients from the ICU and general wards as smoke accumulated in the building. No casualties were reported.
The blood bank is connected to the female ward, post-surgery ward and ICU. Around 200 patients were present in the wards when the fire started. Doctors say the fire could have resulted in several fatalities had it broken out at night since many would be asleep.
The fire mishap led to a disruption in power supply in emergency wards for some time. According to eye-witnesses, thick smoke billowed out of the windows of the blood bank unit at around 8.15 am. Hospital authorities flung open the doors of the blood bank only to find fire ravaging blood reserves and expensive storage equipment.
The fire department was immediately alerted. "I was attending to a patient with seizures when the fire broke out. I immediately alerted the staff and shifted patients in the ICU to another care unit located in the adjacent building," recalls Dr Rajkumar Jadhav, the on-duty medical officer. After receiving a distress call, a fire fighting team from the Assembly fire station swung into the action and brought the situation under control in about an hour.