On Sunday evening, another fire broke out at Steve Biko Academic Hospital – the second in two weeks. The fire damaged linen and prompted an evacuation but fortunately, there were no injuries resulting from the incident, Times Live reported.
Gauteng health department spokesperson Kwara Kekana said the cause of the latest fire was due to till-burning cigarette butts discarded by patients which “touched the ward linen room lights, burning the steel shelves and linen.”
Kekana said the damage was limited to a few items of linin. The fire started at around 6.15pm in a linen closet in a medical ward.
“The fire was quickly extinguished by staff. Patients were temporarily evacuated as a safety precaution because of smoke. By 8.15pm, patients were returned to the ward after the City of Tshwane declared the site safe,” Kekana said.
The previous fire at the hospital broke out at around 1:20am in a temporary storage area for COVID medical waste and as an in-transit corpse area. That fire affected temporary structures outside the hospital casualty area, and forced the evacuation of 18 patients.
This is the latest in a string of fires in Gauteng hospitals, such as the devastating fire at Charlotte Maxeke hospital – something which has caused concern for Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi.
Speaking about the previous fire, she said that, “It looks like every year in the Department of Health we have to deal with fires. I will be getting a report the afternoon from the law enforcement agency, especially on the Charlotte issue.”
The problem of hospital fires is not confined to Gauteng: exactly a week earlier, a blaze broke out at Chatsmed Hospital in Durban.
Source: Times Live
