By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net,
Bhopal: Three persons were reportedly killed while 25 others sustained injuries as over a dozen patients were trapped under the debris of roof of a portion of a hospital in Bhopal, the capital of central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, which collapsed here on Friday evening. Most of those injured were female patients undergoing treatment at the hospital.
The first floor of a portion of women's surgical ward at Kasturba Gandhi Hospital, maintained by India’s Public Sector Undertaking Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL), collapsed at about 4.20 p.m. (IST) killing 80-year-old Mohammad Jameel, and a youth whose identity could not be ascertained till the filing of this report. Jameel had come to visit her wife in the hospital who had undergone by-pass heart surgery a few days back. While another deceased has been identified by the district administration as Arun Sisodia, 24, who had gone to the hospital to see his ailing mother.
People look on during a rescue operation after a portion of the two-storied Kasturba Gandhi Hospital collapsed in Bhopal.
The condition of 11 of those injured was stated to be critical and they have been shifted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of the same hospital. One of them is a four-year-old child.
According to S R Prasad, Executive Director of the BHEL Bhopal Unit, more than a dozen persons, including patients and hospital staff, were trapped under the debris of the two-storey building. He said some tiling work was going on in the nearly 50-year-old building at the time of the collapse.
CISF jawans carrying an injured to an another hospital after a portion of the two-storied Kasturba Gandhi Hospital collapsed in Bhopal.
Prasad said, “Our focus is on rescue operations at present but an inquiry would definitely be conducted later on to ascertain the reasons for this incident. It’s an old building constructed in 1968 but maintenance work is carried out every year and such an incident should not have taken place.”
Chaos prevailed at the hospital following the collapse as a large number of people thronged the hospital to enquire about what had happened there. A crane was pressed into service to clear the debris and police had a tough time to control the crowd. Earth moving machines and equipment have been pressed into service to clear the rubble and pull out those trapped.
Collapsed roof of Kasturba Gandhi Hospital in Bhopal with rescue operation in action.
According to the PRO of BHEL, Vinodanand Jha an intensive care unit is being constructed on the ground floor of the building. "The work has been going on for six months, but I can’t say what exactly led to this incident."
Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced an ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh to kin of those killed in the incident and Rs.50,000 to those injured in the incident, official sources said. Persons injured in the incident would also be provided free treatment, the collector said. (pervezbari@eth.net)