Dikhyaa Mohanty 
A major fire broke out in the top floor of Sun Hospital which is a multi-speciality private health centre at the Biju Patnaik Chhak in Tulsipur area of Cuttack. After the fire broke around seven fire fighting teams were hurried to the hospital but the severity of the fire was so high that a Bronto Skylift and other facilities were used to extinguish the flame.
The whole of the fifth floor which has an office Digi set room, computer room and a canteen was completely desolated. The hospital documents were damaged but fortunately no loss of life or injury to patients who were admitted to the hospital. Around 11 patients were undergoing treatment at the hospital and they were safely evacuated and shifted to another hospital. Apart from them, there were around 49 staff at the hospital, all of them have been rescued and there are no reports of any casualty.
As per reports, the hospital did not have any valid fire safety license and the hospital also lacked fire safety provision or did not comply with any norms. Chief Fire Officer Maheswar Swain stated that the preparedness of the staff, paramedics and doctors checked the loss of life and property significantly. The hospital was under notice as in the past few months the Odisha Fire Service carried out mock drills in COVID hospitals and Sun Hospital was also one of the assigned COVID hospitals.
He also added that it was the knowledge and preparedness of the hospital staff to deal with a fire, which helped in a safe evacuation in this incident. The most significant thing while handling such situations is training and presence of mind.
Last September a huge fire broke out in Sadguru Hospital in Cuttack to which the Odisha Fire Service Department ordered an inspection of fire safety arrangements at all Covid facilities in the State.
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