Staff Reporter :
At least three critically ill Covid-19 patients died while they were being evacuated during a fire at Dhaka Medical College Hospital’s (DMCH) Intensive Care Unit (ICU) which has been dedicated for Covid-19 patients.
The deceased — Kazi Golam Mostafa, 63, son of Kazi Belayet Hossain, resident of Daskhin Khan, Abdullah Al Mahmud, 48, son of Abdus Sattar Miah, hailing from Manikganj Sadar upazila and Kishore Chandra Roy, 68, son of Badira Lal Roy, hailing from Birganj upazila in Dinajpur — were on life support.
The incident took place around 8:10am on Wednesday, said DMCH’s Director Brigadier General Md Nazmul Haque.
He said that there were 14 patients in 14 bedded ICU and all of them were in critical condition.
“They were on ventilation. Soon after the fire broke out, they were quickly evacuated to the ICU of the old building and the HDU of the burn unit. The three people who died were in critical condition and no one was burnt in the fire.”
The ICU has been badly damaged by the fire. It will take time to resume operations it, he added. Fire Service and Civil Defence headquarters control room duty officer Lima Khanam said that the fire broke out around 8:10am and caused dense smoke inside the ICU. Five units of firefighters rushed to the spot and doused the blaze around 9:35am. The reason behind fire could not be known yet. Meanwhile, the Health Minister Zahid Malik visited the hospital and instructed to the hospital authority about quick damage recovery.
How the fire originated?
A patient of Bed No-10 who survived the fire, Mahbub Mandal’s son Islamul Haque told the reporter that a high-flow nasal canola machine caught fire from a short circuit in Bed No-12. From there it went to the pipe. At that time, the fire spread with oxygen when the relatives of the patient tried to extinguish the fire.
Deceased Kishore Chandra Roy’s a relative Sujan said that his uncle was undergoing treatment in bed number-7. The fire broke out from bed number-12 and it immediately went to the Oxygen Hyper Monitor. Then everyone gets busy with their patients.
Many of us were not allowed inside. Our patient died due to lack of oxygen, he added.
The DMCH’s Director Nazmul Huque said that they primarily suspected that the fire started from an ICU machine due to an electrical fault. Then the fire spread rapidly from the oxygen line. Three probe committee formed:
Three separate probe committees have been formed for investigating into the fire incident.
The hospital’s director Brig Gen Nazmul said that the DMCH authorities formed a nine-member probe committee to investigate the incident. The committee, headed by Anaesthesia Department Chair Professor Mozaffor Hossain, has been asked to submit its report within seven working days. Meanwhile, health ministry formed a five-member committee, he added.
On the other hand, Fire Service control room Duty Officer Lima Khanam said that the Fire Service and Civil Defense Headquarters has formed a four-member committee to investigate the cause of the fire.
The committee would be headed by Deputy Director (Ambulance) Nur Hasan Ahmed, she added.
No nurse-ward boy came forward; relatives carried the patient on their shoulders:
When the fire broke out, neither the doctor-nurse nor the ward boy came forward. They, who were relatives of the patient, opened the saline sheets of the patients ourselves and brought them out in their laps, alleged Mahbub Mandal’s son Islamul Haque, who survive from the incident.
Deceased Golam Mostafa’s son Maruf alleged that not a single person came forward to save the patients during the fire. Even those of us who were outside were not allowed to enter.
DMCH employees were not seen extinguishing the fire on their own. They went inside after the fire service people arrived, he added.
However, the hospital director said that they left immediately after receiving the news of the fire. Later they transferred all the patients to another ICU. The fire was brought under control by the fire service.
No firefighting system in ICU unit:
Relatives have blamed mismanagement of the hospital for the deaths of three patients in a fire at DMCH covid-19 ICU unit. They complained that there was no fire extinguishing system in the unit and patients died due to lack of oxygen during evacuation after the fire broke out.
Deceased Mostafa’s younger brother Kazi Shafiqul Islam alleged that his brother has some development in undergoing treatment. There was no fire protection inside the unit, so the whole room went dark with smoke. For this reason his brother died.
He also alleged if you see that there is no fire extinguishing system. He is an engineer and has seen in every hospital outside that there are fire stingers. But there is no arrangement here, he said.
The DMCH director said that they have been trying to maintain the fire system according to the fire service recommendation.
Currently, over 500 Covid-19 patients are undergoing treatment in two Covid-19 units of the hospital. There were 24 ICU beds in the two units and 14 of those were burnt in the fire, the hospital authorities said.
DMCH Director Nazmul Haque said that they resumed ICU support in another unit and collected required machine and equipment from their warehouse and Directorate General of Health Services.
He said that their ICU beds mostly remain occupied by patients and the authorities hardly get time for maintenance. They would repair damages in the razed ICU unit and turn it to full functional quickly.
Earlier on May 28, five patients died in a fire that broke out at the Covid-19 Isolation Unit of United Hospital in Dhaka.
Fire Service officials then said that the hospital extended the isolation unit without authorization and had poor safety measures that helped the fire to spread across the unit rapidly.
