DHAKA: Medical services that halted due to a fire in the store room at the Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College & Hospital on Thursday evening resumed hours after the incident early on Friday (Feb 15).

After 12:00am on Friday, patients, who were earlier evacuated from the hospital due to fire, have started returning to take medical services, said Dr Mamun Murshed, deputy director of the hospital. 

All patients who were shifted to different hospitals caused by fire will return to the hospital in the morning, he added. 

Around 718 out of 1,174 patients have already returned to the hospital till 2:30pm, said an official at the hospital.

Four wards, out of total 14 wards, including a burn unit, have remained closed as those were brunt in the fire, he added.

Child ward will remain shut. But the process is underway to open the rests of wards gradually.

Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque put importance on improving the fire fighting capabilities at all government hospitals.

He also said Thursday’s incident at Suhrawardy Hospital is a lesson for all concerned.

To avert such incident, the fire fighting capabilities of all government hospitals must be improved, the minister was briefing media on the fire accident at his Baridhara residence.

Fire-fighting equipments will be checked regularly at all government hospitals, he also said.

Two separate committees have been formed by the Health and the Home Ministries to investigate the incident.

Ten patients had been admitted to the ICU prior to the fire incident and they were shifted to other hospitals, Dr Mamun also said.

Earlier, a devastating fire broke out at the hospital at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the capital city.

On information, 17 units of firefighters rushed to the hospital and brought the fire under control around 8:20 pm, said Brig Gen (retd) Ali Ahmed Khan, director general (DG) of Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence.

Some 1174 patients were evacuated from the different floors of the hospital and taken to nearby government and private hospitals, including Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

The fire broke out in the store room at ground floor in the new building of the hospital around 5:50pm and soon spread to other floors.

BDST: 1714 HRS, FEB 15, 2019
RS