Bhubaneswar: In the wake of the tragic fire incident at SCB Medical College and Hospital that claimed 12 lives, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi has taken strong action against officials in connection with the tragic mishap.
Following the Chief Minister’s instructions, four officers have been suspended for negligence in their duties. The suspended officials are Deputy Fire Officer of Cuttack Circle Prakash Kumar Jena, Assistant Fire Officer of Cuttack Circle Sanjib Kumar Behera, Station Officer of SCB Medical and Hospital Abhinav Prusty, and Assistant Executive Engineer of SCB Sub-Division under Cuttack GED Ranjan Kumar Biswal.
The action follows preliminary findings pointing to lapses in fire safety management and response, which are suspected to have contributed to the scale of the tragedy.
It may be noted that CM Majhi had constituted a fact finding team under the chairmanship of Development Commissioner to investigate the Cuttack SCB fire incident.
The committee is tasked with examining the cause of the fire, identifying lapses, and recommending corrective measures to prevent such incidents in the future.
The fire incident, which resulted in multiple fatalities, has raised serious concerns over fire safety preparedness in major government healthcare institutions across the state.
While Development Commissioner Deoranjan Kumar Singh was appointed as the chairman of the committee, the fact-finding panel also included Fire Services IG Umashankar Dash, Chief Electrical Inspector and EIC Barada Prasanna Dash, EIC of the Urban Public health Department Biranchi Narayan Pradhan, Chief Engineer (Buildings) Priyabrata Samantaray, and Director of Medical Education and Training Santosh Kumar Mishra.
The committee was tasked with conducting a thorough on-site inspection of the SCB Medical College and Hospital to determine the precise circumstances and lapses, if any, that contributed to the unfortunate fire and subsequent loss of lives.
The fire erupted in the early hours in the Trauma Care ICU, where critically ill patients, many on ventilators and oxygen support, were being treated. Besides 10 deaths, around 11 hospital staff also sustained injuries while helping shift patients to safety following the mishap suspected to have been triggered by an electrical short circuit.
