 "The fire at the Sawai Man Singh Hospital in Jaipur gutted the ICU and destroyed various documents, ICU equipment, blood sample tubes, and other items. ANI")
A hospital turned into a death trap in India’s Jaipur on Sunday night as a fire broke out at the state-run Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital, killing eight patients. Hospital officials have confirmed that more patients remain in critical condition.
The incident comes almost a year after a similar blaze gutted a hospital in Uttar Pradesh, killing 18 newborns, raising uncomfortable questions about hospital management and safety in India.
But what exactly happened at the state-run hospital in Jaipur? Was negligence to blame for the blaze? We get you the latest.
What happened in Jaipur’s hospital?
Late on Sunday night, around 11.20 pm, a fire broke out at the trauma centre of the Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital. According to Dr Anurag Dhakad, the trauma centre’s in-charge, 11 patients were being treated in the neuro ICU and another 13 were admitted to the adjoining ward when the blaze erupted in the storage area.
An official from the fire department said that by the time fire crews arrived, the entire ward was filled with smoke, blocking all access. “We had to break windowpanes from the opposite side of the building and spray water jets inside,” he was quoted as telling Hindustan Times. It took nearly one-and-a-half hours to douse the flames.
Patients were evacuated along with their beds and shifted to the roadside. The fire created chaos in the building, with smoke rapidly spreading throughout the floor and causing panic among patients and their families. Various documents, ICU equipment, blood sample tubes, and other items stored in the area have been gutted in the fire.
As of now, the deceased have been identified as Pintu (Sikar), Dileep (Aandhi, Jaipur), Shrinath (Bharatpur), Rukmani (Bharatpur), Kushma (Bharatpur), Sarvesh (Agra, UP), Bahadur (Sanganer, Jaipur), and Digambar Verma.
Vikas, a ward boy at the hospital, said that he and other staff members rescued as many people as they could before the flames worsened. “We were inside the operating theatre when we heard about the fire, so we immediately rushed to rescue the people inside the centre. We managed to save at least three to four patients. However, as the flames intensified, we could no longer go into the building. We did our best to rescue as many as we could,” he said.
Short-circuit or negligence to blame for hospital fire?
Shortly after the patients were rescued from the blaze, the question on everyone’s mind was what caused the fire?
According to Anurag Dhakad, the trauma centre in-charge, a short circuit led to the blaze, which resulted in the spreading of toxic gases. “The fire seems to have broken out due to a short circuit. Our patients were already in a very critical condition. The maximum patients were in a coma. So their survival reflexes are also poor,” Dhakad said.
“Due to the electrical burn, toxic gases were released there, and we had to shift them along with their support system. Their condition became more serious. We tried to shift them to the ICUs on the lower floor, but we could not save them,” he added.
Jaipur Police Commissioner Biju George Joseph added that the exact cause of the fire would be ascertained only after an investigation by the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) team. “At first glance, it appears to be a short circuit, but the final cause will only be determined after the FSL investigation,” he said, adding that the bodies of the deceased have been shifted to the mortuary. “Once everything is done, the post-mortem of the bodies will be conducted.”
However, family members of the patients who were affected by the blaze claim that negligence was the reason for the loss of their loved ones. In fact, when Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Jogaram Patel and Minister of State for Home Jawahar Singh Bedham visited the spot, relatives and kin complained that some of them had alerted the hospital staff of smoke in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). However, the staff did not pay attention to their complaints.
Additionally, they alleged that when the fire broke out at the hospital instead of helping the patients, the staff fled. They also complained that hospital authorities had failed to share any information about their patients’ condition.
“We noticed smoke and immediately alerted the staff, but they didn’t pay attention. When the fire broke out, they were the first to run. Now, no one is telling us anything about our patients’ condition,” PTI news agency quoted a family member as saying.
Speaking to ANI news agency, another victim’s relative said, “The ICU caught fire, but there was no equipment to extinguish it, no fire extinguishers, no cylinders, not even water to douse the flames. There were no facilities at all. My mother didn’t survive.”
Echoing similar remarks was Om Prakash, who had a loved one in the hospital. Speaking to ANI, he said, “Smoke started spreading around 11.20 pm and I warned the doctors that it could cause discomfort to patients.”
“By the time the smoke intensified, the doctors and compounders had already fled. Only four to five patients had been evacuated.
“Tragically, my maternal aunt’s son lost his life in the fire. He had recovered and was scheduled to be discharged in two to three days,” Prakash said.
How common are hospital fires in India?
Sadly, the fire at Jaipur’s Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital is not a one-off incident. There have been numerous blazes at hospitals in the recent years with the most heart-breaking one occurring in Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi in November last year when 18 newborn babies died in an inferno.
An investigation by Indian Express revealed that between January 2020 and October 2024, there were at least 105 hospital blazes while another study revealed that from August 2020 to April 2022, 122 people died in 29 incidents of major hospital fires across India in just 20 months.
But why do these hospital fires occur ?
A tendency to cut corners, electrical problems and using combustible materials make government hospitals especially prone to fire hazards.
The most common reason for fires in hospitals is the heavy electrical load in the wards combined with the oxygen-rich environment. The National Building Code of India mandates that electrical fittings and wirings must be sealed by non-combustible material in separate ducts. However, that’s hardly ever done in Indian hospitals.
Furthermore, hospitals aren’t supposed to use combustible materials such as plaster of Paris on walls or false ceilings. However, this rule is hardly every adhered to. Improper management of electrical loads is also a major cause of fires. A study, published in the International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health, found that 78 per cent of the 33 hospital fires it looked at were started due to electrical problems – with air conditioners being “the most common source”.
As The Hindu wrote once, “There is no greater betrayal than when a sanctuary turns into a death trap. Fire accidents in hospitals that kill the vulnerable would fall squarely in this category.”
With inputs from agencies