Kozhikode MCH fire: Five-member team to probe incident

A five-member expert team, led by the Superintendent, Government Medical College Hospital, Kottayam, has been set up to inquire into the inconvenience suffered by patients while smoke engulfed the PMSSY block of the Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode, on the night of May 2, after a minor explosion in its UPS room.

K.V. Viswanathan, director of Medical Education (in-charge), who held a meeting at the hospital on Sunday (May 4), told the media that steps would be taken to repair the equipment damaged during the incident. The casualty section and the MRI scanning unit there will not resume services soon. However, those shifted to private hospitals would be brought back. A total of 151 patients — 114 to other wards in the hospital, 12 to the Government General Hospital, and the rest to private hospitals — had to be evacuated after the incident. Inpatient services would be resumed at the block.

Mr. Viswanathan said that Health Minister Veena George had ordered an inquiry into the incident soon after it happened. The inquiry report would be submitted as early as possible, he added. Meanwhile, a temporary casualty ward has started functioning at the old block of the hospital.