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Kolkata, October 24 (IANS) A patient admitted to a private nursing home in Siliguri in West Bengal’s Darjeeling district died in a fire that broke out in the nursing home after midnight on Thursday night. However, other patients admitted in private nursing homes could be evacuated safely after prompt action by the hospital staff and police involved in the evacuation operation.
It is not yet clear whether the deceased patient admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital died due to suffocation due to the smoke of the fire or due to other reasons.
Siliguri Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Singh, who reached the spot as soon as the news of the fire was received, later told media persons that 12 patients in the general ward and five in the ICU were not affected by the fire and all of them were safe.
Police have started investigating the matter and will take appropriate action as per legal provisions, Singh said.
However, relatives of the patients have complained of negligence on the part of the nursing home authorities and lack of adequate provisions to fight such cases of emergencies.
They complained that there was a shortage of medical staff at the time of the fire and that there were not enough support staff to use the nursing home’s fire fighting equipment when the fire broke out after midnight.
The allegations of the family members were confirmed to some extent by the Fire Services Department official present at the spot, who said that if the fire fighting equipment of the nursing home had been used effectively by the staff present there, the fire could have been controlled immediately.
However, nursing home officials have denied the allegations. A spokesperson for the nursing home said, “The hospital was adequately staffed when the fire broke out. Although there was initial panic, the crisis was controlled effectively. The patients are safe.”
Initial investigation has revealed that the cause of the fire was short circuit.
–IANS
Source/Red