Cuttack: Property including costly equipment worth over Rs 10 lakh was damaged after a fire broke out at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Post Graduate Institute of Paediatrics (Sishu Bhavan) Sunday morning.
There was no loss of life as the staff of the hospital managed to shift all the 22 patients of the ward to safety. However, a 21-day-old boy who was undergoing treatment at the NICU ward sustained burn injuries on his head after a warming lamp caught fire and fell on him. The newborn child of Abhimanyu Sahu and Anita Sahu of Kendrapada is being treated in the ICU and kept in ventilator.
‘‘All the 22 newborns at the NICU are safe and have been shifted to other place,’’ said Cuttack collector Nirmal Chandra Mishra who reached the Sishu Bhavan minutes after the incident.
The collector also directed the district technical committee to probe the incident and submit report within a week.
However, there was major damage to the medical equipment and other infrastructure of the NICU, Mishra said.
Though the exact cause of the fire was not known, sources said the fire broke out following sparking from a warmer light.Later, Fire brigade personnel doused the fire.
State Health and Family Welfare minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, who visited the hospital, said action would be taken against persons if the investigation report suggests the fire was caused due to lapses of any of the employee.
A boy was killed in a major fire at the third floor of the new building of Acharya Harihar Regional Cancer Research Centre (AHRCRC) here October 16.
