All five patients admitted in the five-bed Covid-19 unit of United Hospital died in a deadly fire on Wednesday night. Questions have been raised over why the victims could not escape the air-conditioned unit, even though it was located on the ground floor.
Patients’ relatives claim that hospital authorities were indifferent and late in informing fire services. They also alleged the patients may have been locked in from outside.
Police and Fire Service sources said the fire had made it difficult to tell if the door had been locked, but any allegations of negligence would be thoroughly investigated.
They also said flammable materials in the unit may have helped the fire spread quickly and cause a lot of smoke.
Hospital authorities denied allegations of negligence and said the patients may have suffocated quickly as they were already suffering from breathing problems.
Andre Dominic Paul, son of fire victim Vernon Anthony Paul, was nearby when the incident took place. He said the unit had been split into two rooms: a front room where the doctors and nurses sat and a back room where the patients were kept. His father had been at bed number 3.
Andre was standing outside the isolation ward on the night of the incident. At one point, he noticed a spark from the air-conditioner of the unit.
“We heard screams from inside [the Covid-19 unit]. We called the hospital authorities, but no one responded immediately. After a minute, there was another spark in the AC and the blaze suddenly intensified,” Andre said.
He added that his sister-in-law tried to douse the flames with a fire extinguisher, but it proved to be ineffective against the intense flames.
Haji Shahid, maternal uncle-in-law of deceased Riazul Alam, said he was resting in his car in the basement of the hospital when he was told about the fire. When he rushed to the unit, he saw it had already been consumed by the flames.
Riazul's wife Fauzia Akhter said she went to the hospital with her husband and he was still capable of doing everything himself. The night of the fire, the hospital authorities told her that her husband was fine and resting after having his dinner.
She suspects the door of the unit may have been locked or blocked by fire, as her husband could have otherwise left the room without assistance.
Debashish Vardhan, deputy director of Fire Service and Civil Defense and also member secretary of the probe committee, told Dhaka Tribune: “We got the news of the fire at 9:55 and quickly went there and doused the fire before recovering the five bodies. They all died from suffocation.
“As it was a Covid-19 unit, the place was separated with an air-conditioning system. There was also sanitizers, partex partitions and different types of wires. That is why there was a lot of smoke at the beginning of the fire,” he added.
He further said the patients were all suffering from breathing problems, which may have led them to suffocate in a shorter time than normal.
The Fire Service deputy director also said there was no fire safety officer at the hospital on the day of the fire and the fire extinguisher was expired.
“We have heard allegations that the door was locked. We will look into the matter,” he added.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Deputy Commissioner (DC-Gulshan Division) Sudip Kumar Chakraborty said they found the five bodies inside the ward.
“Many have alleged that there was a locking mechanism on the door. Everything was consumed in the fire, so it was not immediately clear if this is true. We are taking the matter seriously and instructed our officer to look into the matter,” he added.
He also said a relative of one of the patients was standing at the entrance of the unit during the fire. “He called 999 at 9:48pm. We checked his phone. Later, we sent a quick message to the fire service through Bhatara police station.”
The fire intensified very quickly, making it impossible to douse without significant effort,” the DC added.
Dr Shagufa Anwar, chief of Communication and Business Development of United Hospital Limited, told Dhaka Tribune that allegations of the hospital authorities had a delayed response were not true.
“We took maybe five minutes to inform the fire service unit. We kept calling the fire service, and the door of that unit was not locked. There was no negligence,” she said.
“I never told a reporter that the patient was put on artificial respiration. They all had bilateral pneumonia and for this reason, they were on high flow oxygen support. Among them, two were in the BIPAP machine, which is a special mask that concentrates the air,” she added.
“The duty doctors, nurses and other staff were there in the unit, but the incident happened very fast and the fire spread quickly. It is hard to say what happened then,” she further said.
