Fire breaks out in NICU of GMCH, no reports of casualty

A fire broke out in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of the Gauhati Medical College Hospital here Friday but all the newborns are safe, the hospital authorities said.

The fire broke out in a ventilator machine in the ICU situated in the Special Newborn Care Unit of the hospital, they said.

"All the babies are safe," GMCH Superintendent Dr R Talukdar told PTI.

All the babies were rescued from the ICU ward and taken to a safe area of the hospital where ICU doctors and nurses were attending to them constantly and providing them medical treatment, the official said.

A police officer supervising the operations said the fire was immediately controlled before it could spread to other parts of the hospital.

As soon as the fire broke out, panic-stricken parents and relatives of the newborns in the NICU attempted to enter the unit to bring out their babies.

However, the hospital authorities brought the situation under control, assuring them that their babies were safe and individually called the parents to be with their baby.