United Hospital fire: Action if negligence found, says DNCC mayor

Action will be taken against United Hospital, if the probe committee finds any negligence by the authorities in yesterday's fire incident, Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Md Atiqul Islam has warned.

"The government will have to take action against them. It is the reality," the mayor said after visiting the hospital where five people died in a fire last night.

While talking reporters after visiting the hospital, he said that eight out of 11 fire extinguishers at the hospital were date-expired.

Moreover, the partitions and ceiling of the makeshift corona isolation unit where the deceased were being treated were set up with "inflammable materials", he added.  

Besides, there was no planning on who will do what if a fire originates at the hospital, the mayor said. 

United Hospital tried to provide services to the people but the authorities should have kept possibilities of such fire incidents in mind while setting up the corona unit outside the main building, he added.

"We appreciate them as they extended their hospital. Otherwise, we would not be able to provide services to the patients," he said.

The hospital authorities must stress the need for fire safety measures, he added.

"People get admitted to hospitals to recover. It is painful that they died in a fire incident here," the mayor said.

Earlier in the day, the Fire Service and Civil Defence authority formed a committee to investigate the fire at United Hospital in Gulshan, Dhaka.

Five patients -- Riyajul Alam, 45; Khodeja Begum, 70; Varun Anthony Paul, 74; Md Monir Hossain, 75; and Md Mahabub, 50 -- who were admitted there, died in the fire that broke out around 9:30pm yesterday at the corona isolation ward, hospital authorities said in a statement.