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By Press Trust of India: A fire broke out at the Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital (IGMCH) here on Thursday after two cooking gas cylinders exploded in the cafeteria, leading to the evacuation of about 250 people from the new OPD building, officials said.
No casualty has been reported in the incident that took place at the attic of the new Outdoor Patient Department (OPD) building of the medical facility, they said.
Chief Parliamentary Secretary (Public Works Department) Sanjay Awasthi visited the IGMCH after the incident and directed the medical superintendent to conduct an inquiry and submit the report at the earliest.
He said that leakage in the gas cylinders led to the fire and also directed the hospital administration to take strict action against the owner of the cafeteria for negligence following which an FIR was registered against the owner of the cafeteria.
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According to the officials, the IGMCH was yet to obtain a no objection certificate (NOC) from the fire department for the new multi-storey OPD block, which was inaugurated by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on March 9.
The blasts occurred when OPD services had just started. Within 15-20 minutes, about 250 people, including patients, were evacuated with the help of hospital staff and others, IGMCH Medical Superintendent Rahul Rao said.
The column of smoke from the building was visible from far away. The two blasts took place in quick succession, triggering panic, eyewitnesses said.
“We received a call at 8:50 am and six fire tenders from the Mall Road, Chotta Shimla and Boileauganj were rushed to the spot and the fire was stopped from spreading,” a fire official said.
The hospital had applied for an NOC from the fire department on April 22, Divisional Fire officer Sanjeev Kumar said. A fire NOC is issued after examining and checking the building’s fire assistance and machinery installed for fire safety.
However, the health officials maintained that fire extinguishers and other equipment were available in the newly constructed building which were used to stop the fire from spreading, till the fire tenders arrived.
The medical superintendent said that five chambers of doctors, the cafeteria (canteen, store kitchen and hall) and three lifts have been damaged in the blaze and according to a preliminary estimate, the loss is over Rs 60 lakh.
Earlier, Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur who visited the spot along with state BJP chief Rajiv Bindal, said that the government should take serious note of the incident and constitute an inquiry committee to fix the responsibility.
The new OPD block was constructed at a cost of Rs 30.90 crore. It houses emergency unit, intensive care unit, special wards, isolation ward and physiotherapy ward, as well as computerised tomography scan, X-ray, sample collection and pathology lab facilities.
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