Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Cuttack, Jun 2:

The Orissa High Court today ordered for the establishment of a fire station inside the campus of SCB Medical College & Hospital (SCBMCH).

Odisha HC on SCB fire

The High Court directed Binaya Behera, director general of Fire Services to set up a fire station inside the SCBMCH on a war footing basis and subsequently, in the remaining government-run medical colleges in the state. It directed Behera to conduct a mock drill on fire fighting and rescue operations for medical employees inside the SCBMCH premises.

The Court ordered Deepak Bhuyan, executive engineer of the General Electrical Division (GED) to conduct an electrical audit of the SCBMCH and submit a report within four weeks.

The High Court issued the order while conducting a hearing on a public interest litigation (PIL) in connection with the fire outbreak at the duty room of the Cardiology department of SCBMCH on Tuesday.

Complying with the High Court’s directive departmental head of the Cardiology department of the SCBMCH Dr Satya Routray, superintendent SCBMCH Dr P C Rath, director general Fire Services Binay Behera and executive engineer of General Electrical Division Deepak Bhuyan appeared before the court in person today.

A division bench of the High Court comprising of Justice Indrajit Mohanty and Justice Sangam Kumar Sahu while conducting a hearing on the PIL yesterday had directed these senior officials to appear before it in person on Thursday.

Taking suo motu cognizance of newspaper reports on the fire outbreak at the Cardiology department of the SCBMCH the High Court’s registry had filed the PIL.

It may be noted here that on Tuesday fire outbreak was reported on the second floor of the Cardiology department of the SCBMCH at around 3.30 PM. The fire outbreak was reported in a room used by the department’s employees.

It was said that the fire was suspected to have been caused due to an electrical short circuit in a window type air conditioner which was in operation in the room.

During the particular period, as many as 54 in-patients were undergoing treatment in that floor.

While the patients were evacuated and shifted elsewhere to safety, a security personnel had sustained minor injuries during the incident.

It has been said that the Cardiology department had no fire fighting system in place at that time.