A COVID speciality hospital in Mumbai was up in fumes after a fire broke out in the Dreams Mall situated in Bhandup of Maharashtra’s capital. The fire resulted in the death of 10 patients till now who were admitted in the hospital to get treated for coronavirus.
More than 70 patients have been shifted to other hospitals after the mishap. Many others are still feared missing. Efforts are on to trace them.
The fire broke out at around 12.30 am on Friday and all the dead were senior citizens. Most of them were on ventilators and couldn’t be saved.
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As per the statement of the BMC Disaster Control, the fire was first noticed in the first floor of the mall around midnight, which rapidly progressed to engulf the next two floors above. The COVID-19 hospital is located on the top most floor of the 4-storey building.
Officials said that 10 bodies have been recovered till now while over 70 patients were moved to the big COVID field hospital in Mulund and Fortis Hospital.
The fire brigade and disaster teams are working to rescue the others and shift other patients for safety to other hospitals close by and to control the fire.
Prior to this, the hospital initially stated that there were “no casualties due to the fire” and later told that some were missing. Then came a statement that 2 COVID patients’ bodies were lying in the premises and that more details regarding the same were awaited.
In order to combat the blaze, 22 fire engines were dispatched and at least 10 were on the site till today morning. High level officials- Additional Municipal Commissioner Suresh Kakani, top fire brigade, police and civic officers- hurried to the hospital to control the havoc.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray expressed his dismay over the event and apologised to the families of those who died in the fire. He announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the clan of each dead person.
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Preliminary reports indicate that the fire started at a shop in the mall, rather than the hospital, the CM said adding that he will make sure the guilty is punished.
“We have been fighting against the coronavirus for the past year. When the pandemic hit the state, there were very few beds and ventilators, but we continued our fight and set up temporary hospitals. This hospital was temporarily allowed to treat coronavirus patients,” he said.
Mr Thackeray added that the permit given to the hospital for functioning was scheduled to expire on March 31.
Speaking about the same, Kishori Pednekar, the Mayor of Mumbai, said, “This is the first time I have seen a hospital in a mall. This is a very serious situation. Seven patients were on ventilators.”
