Bangladesh hospital fire leaves 3 Covid patients dead

Dhaka: A major fire on Wednesday morning in Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) here has left three Covid-19 patients dead, said DMCH Director Nazmul Haque.

Haque told IANS that the victims were being treated at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital, when the fire broke out.

"Rest of the 11 patients of the ICU unit-2, dedicated to Covid-19 patients, have also been evacuated from the ICU following the fire outbreak. They were, later, shifted to the burn unit and ICU of the old building," Haque added.

The fire broke out at around 8 a.m., causing dense smoke inside the ICU unit-2 of DMCH, the state owned biggest hospital of the country.

Three patients who were in life support in ICU, died during shifting to CCU of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital's.

The fire is said to have apparently exploded from a machine besides bed 12 of the ICU, but the fire officials are yet to ascertain the cause behind the blaze.

Three units of firefighters doused the fire at around 8.55 a.m., said Quamrul Hasan, Duty Officer at Fire Service and Civil Defense headquarters.

Haque told IANS that they had failed to control the situation with fire extinguisher.

A total of 14 patients were inside the ICU ward, 17 bed is available there. The cause of the fire could not be known immediately, the director added.

The patients died during evacuating to CCU from the ICU, said Bachchu Miah, Police Inspector and in-charge of the DMCH police camp.