TIRUCHY:Tension prevailed at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital (MGMGH) for a few hours on Tuesday morning, as an unusual explosion-like sound shook not only patients, but also the public and hospital staff.
A medical oxygen cylinder burst at the pediatric ward (Periyar EVR Maniyammai Pediatric Ward) of MGMGH, where around 100 in-patient children including six dengue-affected ones were undergoing treatment.
At the time of incident, all doors of the ward were closed, forcing many to break the glass window panes and wriggle out through the half broken windows, resulting in injuries to five persons.
Hospital sources said that a sound of something exploding was heard in the pediatric ward, when an unskilled staff opened a medical oxygen cylinder around 11.20 am. Panic-stricken women and attendants along with the children scrambled towards the doors. Some of the attendants quickly removed the ‘Intravenous’ line inserted into the hands of in-patient children, and tried to make a quick exit.
“The high-intensity sound shook us, and we thought that a bomb had exploded. I quickly removed the IV line and lifted my son, who was undergoing treatment for dengue,” said K Parameswari of Thogaimalai.
Normalcy returned after nearly one-and-half hours. On an alert about the incident, a fire and rescue team rushed to the hospital premises. But they had to return after a brief enquiry with hospital officials.
Hospital officials said it had trained staff to handle oxygen cylinders. “This should have been avoided. We will investigate as to how this happened,” said Medical Superintendent, MGMGH, Dr P Kanagaraj.