A fire broke out in the tuck shop of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) on Monday morning, resulting in a loss of over Rs 0.2 million.
According to hospital sources, the tuck shop caught fire around 9:45 am, but hospital administration lacked the firefighting equipment to manage the situation. In the absence of fire alarms, large clouds of smoke were the only indicators, which also affected the admitted and incoming patients.
Around 30 minutes into the incident, the fire brigade was called to prevent the flames from spreading to other buildings.
According to Margalla Police Station Assistant Sub-Inspector Mohammad Arshad the fire was caused by the short circuiting of wires passing near a shelf of plastic crockery completely destroying the shop and its content.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Pims Administration Joint Executive Director Dr Altaf Hussain said the hospital has trained staff and primary firefighting equipment and certain procedure had to be followed.
The tuck shop, situated between Medical Ward Six and the Children Isolation Ward, is run by Tanveer Sheikh, a private contractor, who has not lodged an FIR.
Dr Hussain said a committee has been constituted to probe into the incident and to check the preventive installations at those places under the control of private contractors.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 3rd, 2012.
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