the management of the University Teaching Hospital (UCH), Ibadanconfirmed the focus of fire in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on Saturday.
However, a statement on the hospital’s official Facebook page signed by its Public Relations Officer, Funmi Adetuyibi, noted that the cause of the incident has yet to be determined.
The hospital said there were no casualties and all patients and staff were successfully evacuated.
Management also did not provide details of the damage caused by the fire incident, but Newslodge is aware that an asthmatic worker at the facility suffered a smoke attack and was rushed to the emergency unit for treatment. urgent medical attention.
Hospital officials told this newspaper that the occupants of the facilities had been perceiving the fetid odor of a burning cable for more than 48 hours before the incident.
A doctor at the hospital who did not want to be named said: “Before the incident, we smelled burning wire somewhere. We even turned off the appliances, but it was hard to pin down.”
As a step
The medical officer said the fire likely started in the main operating theater complex next to the ICU, but patients were immediately evacuated through the emergency exit.
“From outside the ICU, you could see the heavy fumes, while most of us who wanted to check our patients couldn’t get in right away, some people came in with wet blankets covering their heads and faces and others were masked,” said the source.
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“We were trying to verify if the patients we were handling in the ICU were still there, then they informed us that they had already been rescued by the firefighters and taken to the High Dependency Unit (HDU).”
university to investigate
Meanwhile, the university said: “Appropriate arrangements have been made to ensure that services are not disrupted both in the ICU and in the hospital as a whole.”
The university said it will investigate the cause of the fire to prevent future incidents, adding that a purpose-built fire station for the hospital is also currently under construction.
A leader of the hospital’s student union who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak said health professionals and firefighters were proactive in moving patients to safety.
“They started distributing face masks to people right away to ensure no one is affected by the smoke,” he said.
“I don’t have all the details, but I think the response to the fire incident is quite commendable, especially from the students who rushed to the scene with fire extinguishers.”
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Let hear it in the comment below if you do have an opinion on this; Nigerian University Hospital Confirms Fire Incident, Says Situation Is Under Control