Kozhikode: The Kozhikode Medical College Hospital has stated that the five deaths reported on Friday night were not linked to the fire accident at its casualty ward. Though MLA T Siddique alleged that three patients died of asphyxiation during the fire, the medical college superintendent dismissed the claims. He maintained that all five patients who passed away were in critical condition.

Patients, their bystanders, and staff at the medical college ran helter-skelter after noticing thick smoke coming from the newly constructed building around 7 pm on Friday. The smoke was seen emanating from the UPS room inside the emergency department building. Visuals shown on news channels displayed patients being moved out on stretchers and taken away in ambulances. 

Addressing the media, the superintendent said autopsies of three of the deceased would be conducted after discussions with their families.

The five patients who died on Friday were Gopalan (65), a resident of West Hill; Surendran (59) from Vadakara; Gangadharan (70) from Koyilandy; Ganga (34), a native of West Bengal; and Nazeera (49) from Wayanad.

“Among the five patients, one was under treatment after consuming poison and was in critical condition in the ICU. Another was brought in dead after hanging. We will conduct autopsies on the remaining three after speaking with their family members,” said the hospital superintendent.

Meanwhile, relatives of Gopalan alleged that he died after his ventilator got disconnected while he was being evacuated from the building during the fire.

In a Facebook post, MLA T Siddique claimed that Nazeera, a voter from his constituency who was on ventilator support, died of suffocation while being moved from the building on Friday night. Speaking to Manorama News, Siddique said Nazeera had been admitted to the hospital after consuming poison.

“When the building caught fire, the relatives took Nazeera, who was on ventilator support, outside the building. She died shortly thereafter. Her family recounted the incident to me,” said the MLA.

Meanwhile, the electric department will carry out a detailed inspection today to ascertain the cause of the fire.

Kozhikode District Collector Snehil Kumar Singh told Manorama that preliminary investigations revealed a short circuit in the UPS room had caused the fire. He added that 30 patients were shifted to private hospitals, including Baby Memorial Hospital and Iqraa Hospital. Others continue to receive treatment at the medical college.

Help Desk opened
The health department has opened help desks at Kozhikode Medical College and Kozhikode Government General Hospital (Beach Hospital) to provide information about patients evacuated from the affected buildings. The help desk numbers are 9188920765 and 7356657221.