8 dead in Shrey hospital fire incident in Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad: Eight people have died in fire which broke out at Navrangpura based Shrey Hospital in Ahmedabad today morning, said Dy Chief Minister Nitin Patel.

Shrey hospital was designated as Covid hospital by AMC. It is learnt that fire broke out in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital at around 3.00 am.

Those dead are identified as Arif Mansuri (42) of Sonal Cineman Vejalpur, Narendra Shah(61) of Kharakuva Dholka, Manubhai Rami of RMS society Memnagar, Lilawati Shah(72) of Dharnidhar tower Vasna, Aesha Tirmiji of Alif Apartment Paldi, Jyoti Sindhi(51) of Radhe bungalows Kheralu and Arvind Bhavsar(78) of Akshar Apartment Memnagar.

Around 40 patients admitted in Shrey hospital have been shifted to AMC run SVP hospital.

According to Nitin Patel, an attendant dressed in PPE Kit had burn injury. Patel said, the attendant rushed to douse fire, but as he was wearing PPE kit which could easily catch fire, the fire spread further. He said, as the incident happened early in the morning, most people could be in sleep when fire broke out. In reply to a question, Patel said primary reason of fire could be electric short circuit as there are many equipment in ICU.

Nitn Patel said, as soon as information was received, the first task was done to shift the patients to AMC run SVP hospital. There were patients in wards other than ICU.

The State government has ordered a probe into the incident which is to be conducted by Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Home, Sangeeta Singh and ACS (Urban Development) Mukesh Puri. They have been asked to submit report in three days.




OSD for AMC, ACS Rajiv Gupta said, the hospital building has been sealed. He said, ‘at around 3.30 am ICU ward in Shrey hospital had incident of fire due to short circuit as primary reason. Para-medics tried to douse the fire but it spread, and unfortunately 8 patients have died. Among them 5 are male while 3 are female, one para medic who tried to douse fire has suffered burn injuries. The hospital has been notified as Covid designated. The hospital has treated 300 patients so far. 41 patients from Shrey hospital are shifted to AMC run SVP hospital. The building has been sealed. Police and FSL teams are investigating into this.’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: Saddened by the tragic hospital fire in Ahmedabad. Condolences to the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon. Spoke to CM and Mayor regarding the situation. Administration is providing all possible assistance to the affected, adding in another tweet that Ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh each from PMNRF would be given to the next of kin of those who have lost their lives due to the hospital fire in Ahmedabad. Rs. 50,000 each would be given to those injured due to the hospital fire.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has announced Rs. 4 lakh relief from Chief Minister’s Relief Fund to kin of each victim and Rs. 50,000 relief assistance to injured.

President of India in a tweet said, ‘Sad to hear about the tragic fire accident at a hospital in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Thoughts and prayers with the bereaved families; wishing the injured an early recovery.’

It is learnt that former Gujarat Congress president Vijaydas Mahant’s sons are director of this hospital.

Key operator Bharat Vijaydas Mahant said, ‘fire broke out at around 3.25 pm and fire brigade was swift to douse it in half an hour or so. Mahant said the hospital had all required clearances. NABL approval had been obtained in February this year. Mahant said ICU ward had both types of patients – refereed by AMC and privately admitted. He said Shrey hospital was one of the Covid designated hospitals that had singed MoU with the AMC. He said he has been asked to appear before the police for questioning.

AMC run SVP hospital in a statement said that 41 patients and one injured paramedical staff – total 42 persons have been admitted to SVP hospital. Condition of all patients under treatment is stable. Total 27 gents and 15 ladies transferred from Shrey hospital are under treatment in SVP.

Learning lessons from Ahmedabad incident, Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) has moved teams for fire audit of hospitals.

Gujarat Chief Minister has postponed his scheduled programme on August 7 in which he was to inaugurate and kick off works of projects worth Rs. 834 crore in view of Shrey hospital tragedy. The AMC has made a team of higher officers including Dr. Manish Kumar (IAS), Chief Fire Officer Dastoor an other experts. The team will visit various Covid hospitals in the city today and tomorrow to check fire and other safety arrangements.

Staffer narrates how fire broke out

Chirag Patel, an employee in Shrey hospital who was present in the hospital during the incident of fire said, ‘at around 2.48 am, I went out of the ward to drink water, while one staff was there inside ICU. After 3 am a staffer rushed out and asked people to go to ICU with water(to douse fire). I went there and saw that there was small fire near bed number 9. Fire broke out close to a patient under a monitor next to a fan due to short circuit. ICU has 10 beds. There were 8 patients present. All patients were aged. It was a small fire and I saw hair of a patient burning. I tried to save the patient from fire and it could be doused. But a brother (paramedic staffer)’s PPE kit which he was wearing also caught fire. I pulled him out of the ward. A doctor was there with water and he threw water on brother, but intensity of fire was so much that it couldn’t be doused with this much of effort. Then a doctor also attracted fire, however with use of water it was doused. Then we heard a blast inside the ward. We don’t know how this blast occurred. I asked staff members inform all patients who are able to walk down to move. Doctor, me and others took possession of fire safety equipment but smoke coming out from fire was so massive that we couldn’t do anything. There was so heavy smoke that we could stay there for 2-3 seconds. There were 3 patients on the 3rd floor who couldn’t walk. There was an old woman who had breathing trouble. I took her downstairs. There was another old lady who had lose balanced. I lifted her. Later I somehow managed to go to first floor and tried to break glass, but it was too hard to break and I had injury due to glass. Meanwhile fire staff arrived. Fire staff didn’t permit me to go inside. I insisted to go inside. Then they said you can go inside on your own risk. Our staff did best to save the patients. Gaurav brother whose PPE kit had caught fire was taken to SVP hospital for treatment. DeshGujarat