Amravati Hospital Fire: A fire broke out after a ventilator exploded in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) located on the third floor of the District Women's Hospital in Maharashtra’s Amravati on Monday.
Three newborn babies were killed in the fire. Doctors, nurses and hospital staff rescued 36 children, of whom six newborns were shifted to a super-speciality hospital for further treatment.
According to preliminary investigation, a ventilator in the NICU suddenly exploded around 3:30 am. Moments after the explosion, a fire broke out with thick smoke engulfing the intensive care unit. Panic ensued as the fire spread rapidly through the hospital.
12 Newborns Were In The Unit
The Amravati District Women's Hospital has three intensive care units for newborns on its third floor. Each of these units has a capacity to treat 13 infants, making for a total capacity of 39 newborns. The fire broke out in one of these intensive care units. At the time of the fire incident, 12 newborns were undergoing treatment in the affected unit.
On receiving information about the fire, doctors, nurses, and other staff on duty immediately launched a rescue operations. A team of doctors is attending to the rescued newborns, and efforts are underway to stabilise their condition.
The fire was brought under control with the help of the fire department. An investigation will now be conducted to determine whether the fire was caused by a technical glitch, a short circuit, or due to some other reason.