SERAMPORE: A fire broke out at the state-run Serampore Walsh Hospital in Hooghly district today.
"Smoke filled the Operation Theatre on the second floor as some hospital employees were doing maintenance work," a senior district official said, quoting eyewitness accounts.
The panic-stricken employees went downstairs even as two fire tenders rushed to the spot and the situation was brought under control.
No operation was scheduled at the OT in the first half of the day, the official said, adding the patients at other floor were not affected in the fire.
Superintendent of Police Sukesh Jain said a police force has been sent to the spot.
The fire could have been triggered from switch board, a fire brigade official said.
The patients' wards were on the ground floor and first floor of the hospital.
Mousumi Das, a patient in the maternity ward, said, "We were all panick-stricken with the news of smoke billowing out from the 2nd floor, but the hospital administration assured us and none had to be evacuated."