Kozhikode: The family members of Naseera Peroli (44), who died soon after she was evacuated following the fire at the casualty, said her condition deteriorated after she was moved out and left without ventilator support for half an hour.

Naseera from Kottappadi in Wayanad was brought to the hospital after she reportedly consumed poison. The family says her condition was stabilising before she was shifted out and left without ventilator support.

"Though she was in a critical condition, she was getting better slowly. Before the fire incident, she asked for food and had some rice gruel through the feeding tube. That gave up. We thought she would recover and come back to her life," Naseera's son-in-law, T Jaisal, told Onmanorama.

"But when the fire and smoke started engulfing the place, everyone panicked, and we (the bystanders) tried to take the patients out of the ICU (adjacent to the casualty ward). As there was a rush at the main door, we tried to take her out in a stretcher through another door, which was closed. So we broke open that door and took her into the front of the old block.

"It took us almost half an hour to get her out of the new building. As we could not carry the ventilator, she was out of assisted support for almost half an hour. Her condition deteriorated by the time a doctor checked her," he said.

Wayanad MLA T Siddique also said the women died during the evacuation. "Naseera died during the evacuation. Her condition deteriorated and she collapsed during the evacuation. The bystanders had to break the emergency exit of the ICU and take her out," he told Onmanorama.

However, hospital authorities denied that the five deaths reported on Friday were related to the fire incident at the casualty ward.

Among the other two individuals who died during evacuation, the deceased K Gopalan Thuppayamthodi (67) is a resident of BG Road, West Hill, Kozhikode. He was admitted to the casualty ward on Thursday with complaints of stomach pain and was placed on ventilator support.

According to an FIR filed based on a complaint by his son, Maneesh G, the death may have occurred due to either the underlying illness or a loss of ventilator support during the evacuation. Police have registered a case under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). 

The deceased, Gangadharan Pulichikolattameethal (72), is a resident of Nedumpoil near Meppayur. According to his relatives, Gangadharan was receiving oxygen support when heavy smoke began to fill the ICU. They said they were forced to disconnect the oxygen and evacuate him.
Within five minutes of the evacuation, the patient died.

"He had been admitted to the hospital for sodium reduction. He was also a cancer patient and had received his first dose of chemotherapy,” his relative Rajeevan PKM told Onmanorama. The family has since lodged a complaint with the Medical College Police Station.

The body of Ganga Haldar (31), a native of Baishnabnagar, Malda, was brought to the casualty ward around 6 pm on Friday after she was found hanging at her rented house in Kudilthode. She was declared dead by doctors, according to the FIR registered at the Medical College Hospital.