Tangail Gen Hospital: Covid patients whisked out of ICU as fire triggers panic

Dozens of patients were whisked off Tangail General Hospital by their panic-stricken relatives yesterday after a fire broke out at the hospital's Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

The patients had to take shelter beside a road near the hospital. Some critical Covid patients gasped for air without adequate oxygen support.

One of them died after suffering a cardiac arrest.

The deceased, Saiful Islam, 50, was undergoing treatment at the hospital's Covid unit, which is adjacent to the ICU. He was from Tangail's Ghatail upazila.

Tangail Civil Surgeon Abul Fazal Mohammad Shahabuddin said the fire broke out at the ICU at 3:13pm. Panicked, Saiful's relatives hurriedly moved him out of the hospital building. He suffered a cardiac arrest there and died, he said.

Rezaul Karim, assistant director of Tangail Fire Service and Civil Defence, said an electric short circuit in a high-flow nasal cannula set might have caused the fire. The reason will be confirmed after further investigation, he said.

The official said firefighters on receiving information rushed to the hospital and shifted the patients to safety with the help of doctors and nurses. The firefighters put out the flames within 10 minutes.

Witnesses said the fire caused panic among the patients and disrupted the hospital's services.

All the 10 patients undergoing treatment at the ICU were shifted elsewhere, they said.

The hospital authorities told The Daily Star they were working hard to resume the ICU operations at the earliest.

Rawshan Ara, a resident of Dorun Sarutia area in Tangail, said, "My daughter, who is a Covid patient, was undergoing treatment at the ICU. Hearing about the fire, we became panicked and took her out of the hospital building. She was on oxygen support."

Meanwhile, a five-member probe body, headed by an additional district magistrate, was formed to investigate the fire incident, said Ataul Gani, deputy commissioner of Tangail.

The committee was asked to submit its report in three working days, he added.