Relatives allege fire at Thiruvananthapuram MCH resulted in five deaths

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Relatives came forward alleging that patients died in the fire that broke out at the casualty of the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College. The complaint has been filed by relatives of Saneesh of Neyyattinkara and Krishnankutty of Oyoor, who died while undergoing treatment in the hospital. Saneesh was undergoing treatment following a bike accident.

The relatives complained that Saneesh's condition deteriorated after the life-saving equipment was changed during the fire. Relatives also said that Saneesh, who had been improving had started drinking porridge. A relative alleged that Krishnankutty's condition deteriorated after shifting him from the ICU.

A fire broke out in the casualty of the multi-specialty block of the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College on March 17. Following the fire, the patients undergoing treatment in the ICU and the staff were shifted. It was later informed that all the patients were safe, but five people died in the next few hours. Krishnankutty died at 12.45 pm on the day the fire broke out. Saneesh died the next day. The other three dead are auto driver Abdul Raheem, Omana of Chirayinkeezhu and Sreedharan of Balaramapuram.

However, the medical college authorities have denied all these allegations. The authorities explained that all the patients were shifted to other ICUs correctly and that the fire was not the cause of death. The patients who were in a critical condition had died. The authorities said the relatives of the patients had been informed about their condition in advance.