Fire breaks out at district hospital in MP's Betul; patients shifted to safety

Betul, Nov 23 (PTI) A fire broke out at a storeroom in the Betul District Hospital in Madhya Pradesh on Sunday morning, but the staff contained the blaze within minutes and averted a major accident, officials said.

As a precautionary measure, patients from the female and paediatric wards were shifted to safety, they said.

The blaze started at 9.20 am in the storeroom in the kitchen area of the hospital due to a short-circuit, and the staffers brought it under control in about 10 minutes and extinguished it, the officials said.

The situation did not escalate due to the swift response of the hospital administration, they added.

Hospital civil surgeon and in-charge Dr Rupesh Padmakar and Resident Medical Officer (RMO) Dr Ranu Verma reached the site immediately.

Dr Padmakar said an electrician and the latter's assistant switched off the power supply without delay and used extinguishers to douse the flames.

Patients from the female ward and the paediatric ward were shifted to safer areas as a precaution. The hospital staff later started the process of moving them back to their respective wards, the officials said.

Betul in-charge Collector Akshat Jain, Additional Collector Vandana Jat, Chief Medical and Health Officer Dr Manoj Hurmade, and the state power distribution company staff inspected the site and issued necessary instructions. PTI COR LAL GK