Eye hospital in AIIMS turned into Emergency ward in 30 minutes as fire breaks out

Over 250 patients from various wards and the Emergency department were moved to the neighbouring eye care and cancer care blocks within 30 minutes on Saturday, after a massive fire broke out in the teaching block of the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences.

The quick evacuation could be managed because of the help of doctors, nurses and other staff members who rushed to the hospital during their off-duty hours after hearing about the fire.

“I had finished with my duty in the operation theatre and had just returned to the hostel when I read about the fire in one of the Whatsapp groups. I immediately returned to the Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences and saw several nurses and staff shifting in patients from neighbouring buildings,” said Dr Ashwini Behara, a senior resident doctor at the centre.

On entering the RP Centre, he was surprised to see that the casualty and the adjoining operation theatre — where emergency eye surgeries are performed — had been converted into a labour room to accommodate the 40 women admitted in the gynaecology ward.

The daycare centre, where patients with cataract wait after their surgeries, was converted into a ward for 30 children from the paediatric surgery ward.

The transfers from the various departments were done with the help of the doctors from the hospital’s administration department who took responsibility of the different floors and coordinated with other doctors and staff.

At RP Centre, the challenge was looking for free beds for the incoming patients.

“The data on occupied beds is saved online and the internet service was down. So a group of resident doctors actually went from ward to ward to see where patients could be accommodated,” said Dr Behara.

“The daycare centre has about 10 beds, but we accommodated all the children by doubling and adding some stretchers. Some of the patients, who were on ventilators, were moved along with their beds to the RP Centre,” said Dr Shakti Gupta, the medical superintendent of the eye centre.

Apart from that, the out-patient clinics of the centre were also converted into a make-shift emergency department. “Patients who were admitted to the emergency department were accommodated in the OPD of the RP Centre. They were on stretchers, wheelchairs and some were just sitting on the floors, but the doctors and staff from various departments came together to ensure that everybody received proper care. Even with such a massive fire, it is a feat that there was no casualty,” said Dr Gupta.

Amidst all the chaos, two c-section surgeries were performed to deliver a baby girl and a boy.

“There are twelve OTs in the building. Of these, two were kept open for gynaecological surgeries. Now, the challenge was that the OTs are meant for eye surgeries and do not have the necessary equipment for a c-section. The gynaecology department carried in the necessary equipment and medicines to perform the procedure,” he said.

The baby girl was born healthy, with a birth weight of 3.8kg. The boy was born with a slightly low birth weight of 2.45kg and was moved immediately to the neonatal intensive care unit in the private ward. Normal birth weight is around 2.5 to 4.5 kg.

The patients were moved back to the respective wards late Saturday night and Sunday early morning.

“I was in the RP Centre till about 1am and returned back at about 7am for a live surgery demonstration that was scheduled for Sunday. And I could tell that the nurses had worked through the night, because the OT was ready for the surgery early morning even after the ordeal of Saturday,” said Dr Behara.

First Published: Aug 18, 2019 21:59 IST