Virar hospital fire: Patients were asleep when AC unit exploded

Fifteen people died in a predawn fire that broke out at the 17bed Intensive Care Unit ICU of Vijay Vallabh Hospital treating COVID patients in Virar West on Friday Most of the patients were asleep wearing oxygen masks when one of the three central airconditioning units exploded setting the oxygen pipeline ablaze charring the entire setup and snapping oxygen supply to patientsA medical worker inside Vijay Vallabh Hospital after the fireSources said that all 17 ICU beds were occupied ldquoPatients started removing their masks as oxygen supply had snapped inside the ICU Four of the 17 patients managed to escape somehow but the rest of them could not leave their beds as the ceiling started collapsing and stacks of files on the floor caught firerdquo a source saidldquoThe hospital is a groundplusfour storey structure The first floor has a general ward ICU is on the second floor where the fire broke out and third and fourth floor are special wards Our fire brigade team received a call from the hospital staff at 313 am on Friday The fire brigade reached at 318 am and doused the fire at 345 amrdquo said Ganesh Patil Public Relations Officer of VVCMCMedical personnel inside the charred ICU wardldquoThere were total 90 patients in the hospital 13 of the 17 in the ICU died of asphyxiation caused by smoke inhalationrdquo said Dr Dilip Shah CEO and director Vijay Vallabh HospitalAll senior officers of Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar police commissionerate including its commissioner Sadanand Date zonal DCP Sanjay Kumar Patil and others reached the spot and heavy bandobast was set up to restrict bereaved family members from entering the hospitalFortythree critical patients at the hospital were shifted to 15 nearby hospitals while one was sent to home quarantineJanardhan Mhatrersquos family outside the hospitalSome of the relatives who had gathered outside the hospital verbally abused the police hospital and civic authorities while another created a ruckus when he was prevented from going inside The relatives have accused the hospital of being negligentThe deceased patients have been identified as mdash Uma Kangutkar 68 Nilesh Bhoir 35 Pukhraj Vaishnav 68 Rajni Kadu 60 Narendra Shinde 58 Janardhan Mhatre 63 Kumar Doshi 45 Ramesh Upyaan 55 Pravin Goda 65 Abheya Raut 23 Rama Mhatre 48 Suvarna Pitle 64 Supriya Deshmukh 43ldquoShivaji Vilkar 56 who was shifted to Cardinal hospital in Vasai died during treatmentrdquo said a civic official Later officials also confirmed the death of Nirav Sampat a 31 year old at a hospital in Nalasopara With this the death toll reached 15Kumar and Chandani DoshiDr Mahesh Patil deputy commissioner of police crime said ldquoInspector Pramod Badakh of Crime Branch Unit 3 will investigate the case registered by VVCMC against the administration doctor and workers of Vijay Vallabh HospitalrdquoDied on birthdayMonika Chaugulersquos mother Uma Kangutkar resided in Dadar where she contracted COVID It was Kangutkarrsquos 63rd birthday on Friday She slept after speaking to her kids and friends at midnight Her daughters had planned to celebrate her birthday after her recoveryFamilies outside Vijay Vallabh Hospital on FridayldquoWe were not getting a bed for her so we decided to bring her to Virar She was improving and her oxygen saturation level was 96 We had also managed to arrange remdesivir for her and she was about to get discharged in a couple of daysrdquo Monika told middayldquoWe had hired a private nurse to assist my mother at the hospital We received a call from the nurse about the fire and that my mother is stuck inside I could not understand what to dordquo Monika saidldquoThe private nurse said that no hospital staff was available when the incident took place There was no fire extinguisher at the hospital Before I could reach my sister reached there and went upstairs My mother was struggling to breathe as she had removed her oxygen mask With her oxygen supply cut she diedrdquo Monika said ldquoWhy were ICU patients left unattendedrdquo she wonderedWorkers rescue people from the hospitalPlanned daughterrsquos marriageJanardhan Mhatre had organised his daughterrsquos marriage on Sunday but it was postponed after he tested positive for COVID ldquoWe live in Nala village of Virar west My niece was set to get married next week We had gone to the hospital but the doctors did not give us a clear picture They misguided us by saying all patients have been shifted to other hospitals and are safe They did not tell us that those admitted to the ICU have diedrdquo said Janardhanrsquos younger brother VijayMhatre family was seen crying outside the hospital ldquoHow can we go ahead with the marriage when the head of the family is no more My brother had planned a grand party But first the lockdown took away his wish and now he is no morerdquo Vijay saidMedical personnel outside the hospitalTeen loses parentsKumar Doshi was admitted to Vijay Vallabh Hospital on April 13 His wife Chandani and 15yearold daughter Khushi also tested positive and Chandani was admitted to Jeevdani hospital while Khushi was sent to a COVID facility at Varun industry in VasaiKhushi was discharged a couple of days ago and went to her maternal unclersquos home in Gujarat ldquoA few patients were shifted to Jeevdani hospital where Chandani was recuperating She saw many patients with oxygen masks on and after asking around she learnt of the firerdquo said their family friend Chirag DoshildquoAfter learning of the fire Chandani died of a heart attack around 6 am The couple had chatted on WhatsApp and slept around 3 am Minutes after they slept the fire took Kumar Chandani too died of shock Within a span of three hours Khushi lost both her parentsrdquo Chirag saidFatherinlaw dies mother survivesIT professional Deven Jadhav lost his fatherinlaw Pravin Goda in the fire but his mother survived as she was in the general ward on the first floor ldquoMy mother heard the nouse early in the morning but she did not alert me as she thought Irsquoll panic She didnrsquot know that my fatherinlaw is also admitted in the ICUrdquo Jadhav saidJadhavrsquos 70yearold mother has been shifted to a Vasai hospital Godarsquos daughter Ajita was seen lashing out at the hospital staff on FridayA senior police officer said ldquoAn FIR has been registered under Sections 304 culpable homicide not amounting to murder 337 causing hurt by rash or negligent act 338 causing grievous hurt and others of the IPC against the management of Vijay Vallabh Hospital at Arnala police station A dog squad team also had reached the spot and police started taking the statements of hospital staff late on Friday After the widespread media coverage senior politicians started making a beeling to the hospital on FridayVVCMC commissioner D Gangatharan who was at the site refused to commentlsquoMy niece was set to get married this Sunday We had gone to the hospital but the doctors did not give us a clear picture They misguided us by saying all patients have been shifted to other hospitals and are safe They did not tell us that those admitted to the ICU have diedrsquo Vijay Mhatre brotherlsquoWe were not getting a bed for her so we decided to bring her to Virar She was improving and her oxygen saturation level was 96 We had also managed to arrange remdesivir for her and she was about to get discharged in a couple of daysrsquo Monika Chaugule daughterlsquoA few patients were shifted to Jeevdani hospital where Chandani was After learning from them of the fire where her husband was admitted Chandani died of a heart attackrsquo Chirag Doshi family friend