A massive fire blazed through the neuro ICU of Jaipur’s state-run Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital in the dead of the night, killing six patients on critical care support, officials said on Monday.
Eleven patients were being treated in the ICU at the time, said trauma centre in-charge Dr Anurag Dakhad. The fire, which erupted in the storage area around midnight, is suspected to have been caused by a short circuit.
The flames spread fast and rescuers could pull out only five patients.
"Six people, two women and four men died, and five are undergoing treatment," Dhakad said. "Fourteen other patients were admitted in a different ICU, and all were successfully evacuated to safer locations," he added.
Walls blackened with smoke and soot, equipment twisted out of shape in the heat and shattered glass told the tale of the horrors that unfolded when the fire broke out.
Though some reports claimed eight patients died in the fire, Dhakad and hospital superintendent Sushil Bhati maintained that the number of deaths was six.
Expressing grief over the tragedy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in an X post in Hindi, "The loss of lives due to a fire tragedy at a hospital in Jaipur, Rajasthan, is deeply saddening. Condolences to those who have lost their loved ones. May the injured recover soon." The state government has formed a high-level committee to probe the incident.
SMS hospital is Rajasthan's biggest government health facility, treating patients from across the state and elsewhere.
The deceased were identified as Pintu from Sikar, Dilip and Bahadur from Jaipur, and Shrinath, Rukmini and Kusuma from Bharatpur.
Anguished relatives held a brief protest and alleged that authorities were negligent, ignoring warnings and fleeing instead of rescuing the ailing and sick.
Among them was Rukmini's son Joginder.
"My mother was recovering and was supposed to be fine. But this disaster happened. When the smoke started, there were 15 to 16 people in the ward. People were trying to evacuate their own patients," he said.
"No one helped my mother. My elder brother grabbed a torch from the hospital staff, found our mother, and brought her out. No one went to help her. I could not save her and could not do anything," he told reporters.
Omprakash, whose brother Pintu was killed, said the fire spread rapidly.
"My brother was still inside. It took an hour and a half before they managed to pull Pintu out of the room. His body was not burned, but his face was completely blackened from the smoke. When we took him outside, there were no doctors present," he alleged.
The trauma centre building is in front of the main hospital building on busy Tonk Road.
Hospital staff and attendants evacuated patients with some wheeling beds outside the building. Firefighters brought the fire under control in around two hours, official said.
Vikas, a ward boy who was at the scene, told PTI that he and other staff members rescued as many people as they could before the billowing flames and smoke made it impossible for them to do so.
"We were inside the operating theatre when we heard about the fire, so we immediately rushed to rescue the people inside the centre. We managed to save at least three to four patients. However, as the flames intensified, we could no longer go into the building. We did our best to rescue as many as we could," he said.
Police could not enter the building immediately due to the heavy smoke, he added.
By the time the fire team arrived, the entire ward was engulfed in smoke. Firefighters had to break a window to start extinguishing the fire, he said.
Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Jogaram Patel and Minister of State for Home Jawahar Singh Bedham were among those who visited the trauma centre to take stock of the situation.
When Patel and Bedham reached the spot, relatives of some patients alleged that the staff had ignored early warning and fled during the fire. They also claimed that the hospital staff could not provide updates on the patients' condition.
"We noticed smoke and immediately informed the staff, but they did not pay any heed. When the fire broke out, they were the first to run. Now, we cannot get any information about our patients. We want to know their condition, but no one is telling us," said an attendant.
The chief minister, who spoke to doctors and patients, termed the incident extremely unfortunate and assured that immediate relief measures were being taken.
The state government appointed committee, headed by the commissioner of the Medical Education Department, Iqbal Khan, will look into the causes of the fire, the hospital's preparedness and response to the emergency, safety measures, and steps to prevent such incidents in the future.
Describing the situation as heartbreaking, former chief minister Ashok Gehlot said, "It is extremely unfortunate that the families of the victims are angry with the way they have been treated by the state government. They said that no government representative has approached them or spoken to them so far." Gehlot demanded from the state government to form a judicial commission to thoroughly investigate the incident.
AICC general secretary and former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot also visited the hospital and expressed sorrow over the incident.
"This disaster has undoubtedly been caused due to negligence in one of the state's most renowned hospitals," he said, calling for accountability and swift action.
Director General of Police Rajeev Sharma also visited the hospital and said that he has instructed the Jaipur Police commissioner to form a special team having experts from FSL and fire department to thoroughly investigate the case.
