Patient dies after panicked evacuation as DMCH building catches fire

Jashim Uddin from Cumilla was suffering from respiratory problems

A patient has died after evacuation from the new building of Dhaka Medical College Hospital that caught fire on Sunday afternoon. 

Doctors at the emergency department declared 60-year old Jashim Uddin dead after the incident around 3:45pm. 

The patient from Cumilla was admitted to the medicine department on the fifth floor of the building with respiratory problems on Saturday. 

After the outdoor unit of an air-conditioner caught fire in the kidney dialysis centre on the third floor, Jashim and some other patients were evacuated as smoke started billowing from the burnt device, said his son Mafiz Uddin. 

The fire service doused the fire shortly afterwards, the hospital authorities said. 

Brig Gen Nazmul Haque, the hospital’s director, said Jashim had pneumonia and kidney problems. 

“The nurses asked the relatives not to evacuate the patient as he was on oxygen support, but the relatives did not listen. 

“The patient’s condition deteriorated and doctors at the emergency department declared him dead,” Brig Gen Nazmul added.