Jaipur: Six critically ill patients lost their lives in a devastating fire that broke out late Sunday night at the trauma centre of the state-run Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital in Jaipur, officials said.
According to Dr. Anurag Dhakad, in charge of the trauma centre, 11 patients were being treated in the Neuro ICU when the blaze erupted in the storage area, reportedly due to a short circuit.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences on X (formerly Twitter), writing in Hindi: “The loss of lives due to the fire tragedy at a hospital in Jaipur, Rajasthan, is deeply saddening. My condolences to the bereaved families. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured.”
Officials identified the deceased as Pintu from Sikar, Dilip and Bahadur from Jaipur, and Shrinath, Rukmini, and Khurma from Bharatpur.
“Six patients — two women and four men — died in the incident,” Dr. Dhakad said. “Fourteen others who were admitted in another ICU were safely evacuated,” he added.
The fire led to chaos inside the building as thick smoke spread rapidly, causing panic among patients and their families. Several documents, ICU equipment, and medical supplies were destroyed.
Hospital staff and attendants rushed to evacuate patients, wheeling beds outside the building as firefighters battled the blaze, which was brought under control after nearly two hours.
Vikas, a ward boy present during the incident, told reporters here that he and other staff members tried to rescue as many patients as possible before the fire intensified.
“We were inside the operating theatre when we heard about the fire. We immediately ran to help and managed to rescue three to four patients. But as the flames grew, it became impossible to go back inside. We did our best,” he said.
He added that while the police arrived shortly after, they couldn’t enter immediately because of the dense smoke. Firefighters eventually broke a window to begin extinguishing the flames.
Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Jogaram Patel, and Minister of State for Home Jawahar Singh Bedham visited the hospital to review the situation.
When Patel and Bedham first arrived, distraught relatives accused hospital staff of ignoring early warnings and fleeing during the fire.
“We saw smoke and informed the staff, but they didn’t listen. When the fire started, they ran first. Now no one is telling us anything about our patients,” one attendant alleged.
Later, Chief Minister Sharma met with doctors and patients to assess the situation and assured that a detailed investigation would follow.
