Kasturba Gandhi hospital wing collapses in Bhopal; 2 dead, 14 hurt

Zee Media Bureau Bhopal: At least two people were confirmed dead by late Friday evening as a portion of women’s ward at Kasturba Gandhi hospital collapsed here. The collapse injured 14 people, including patients. Immediately after the incident happened, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced a relief of Rs 2 lakh to the families of the deceased and also announced an ex- gratia of Rs 50,000 to those injured in the incident. Chouhan tweeted, “So far 24 people have been rescued from the BHEL Hospital. State govt. to give immediate relief of Rs.2 lakh to the family of dead persons.” He tweeted further, “State government is conducting rescue operations at Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited Hospital and providing medical treatment to injured. Saddened to learn about Kasturba Hospital accident. I pray for the victims & giving immediate relief of Rs. 50000 to every seriously injured.” The collapsed building was an old construction which was a part of the female ward of the BHEL run hospital. As rescue operations were carried out on a war footing many of the trapped including patients have been rescued. Many are said to be grievously injured. 12 people have been rescued so far. Most of those trapped under the debris are patients admitted in the hospital.

Six earthmovers reached the spot to remove the debris, according to TV news reports. Notably, a new building was being constructed for a new ICU department nearby the women wing of the hospital where the incident happened. At the time of the incident many including women and children were nearby the incident spot, as per news reports several patients and medical staff are feared trapped under the debris. Meanwhile, SR Prasad, Executive Director of the Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), which runs the Kasturba Hospital have confirmed that a total of 14 persons, including patients and hospital staff, were trapped under the debris of the two-storey building. "I am confident that nobody lost his life in the incident and all 14 of them have been rescued and were admitted in another wing of the same hospital," Prasad said. According to him, some tiling work was going on in the nearly 50-year-old building at the time of the collapse. There was chaos at the hospital following the collapse as a large number of people thronged the hospital to enquire about what had happened there. A crane was pressed into service to clear the debris and police had a tough time to control the crowd. Senior government and police officials, including the Collector Nikunj Shrivastava, DIG Sriniwas Verma and SP Anshuman Singh supervised the rescue operation. Leader of the Opposition in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Ajay Singh, who also rushed to the hospital, alleged the incident took place due to the "failure" of the district administration and the BHEL management. State Urban Administration and Development Minister, Babulal Gaur, in whose assembly constituency, Govindpura, the incident took place, was among the first to reach the site. Gaur`s daughter in-law and Bhopal Mayor Krishna Gaur also came to the site along with a team of the Bhopal Municipal Corporation that carried out rescue operations. With PTI inputs