Smoke at Kozhikode Medical College hospital: Cong demands post-mortem of five deceased patients

Kozhikode (Kerala) | The opposition Congress on Saturday demanded the health department to carry out the post-mortem of five patients who died at the Kozhikode Medical College hospital here after thick smoke emanated from one of the rooms.

Though the medical college authorities made it clear that none of the deaths were caused due to smoke inhalation, the Congress leadership wanted the doubts and concerns of relatives of the deceased persons be addressed.

The smoke was seen coming from the UPS room inside the emergency department building. The incident happened after 7 pm on Friday.

Kerala Health Minister Veena George had already instructed the Director of Medical Education to carry out a probe into the incident, which caused panic among patients and their bystanders.

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters here, District Congress Committee president K Praveen Kumar said the post-mortem of the bodies of five persons, who had died at the hospital after the smoke rose from the UPS room inside the emergency department, should be conducted.

"The Health Department is usually adamant on conducting post-mortem even on those persons who are brought dead. So, there should not be any laxity in this case. Precautions should also be taken against the recurrence of such incidents in the future," he said.

He also alleged that some private hospitals charged exorbitant amounts from hapless patients, who were admitted there after being evacuated from the government medical college after the smoke incident.

On Friday night, Congress's Wayanad legislator T Siddique alleged that some deaths were reported at the hospital due to smoke inhalation. However, hospital sources said one person was brought dead at the hospital and others were in critical condition and smoke inhalation was not the reason for the worsening of their condition or death.

Abdullah, one of the patients who was shifted from the hospital after the incident, said he managed to get out of the emergency ward holding his glucose drip in his hands.

"The power supply went three times before the smoke incident. Hearing the clamour outside, first I thought it might be some other issues inside the hospital. Later smoke was seen spreading across the building. So, I also ran along with others," he told the media on Saturday.

All patients in the building were quickly evacuated.

Visuals shown on news channels displayed patients being moved out on stretchers and taken away in ambulances.

A short circuit in the UPS room is believed to have caused the smoke. Fire and rescue teams responded swiftly to the incident.

Soon after the incident, Minister George said emergency medical facilities were arranged at the nearby beach hospital in the wake of the incident.