All patients safely evacuated from Cebu Doc fire
Déjà vu. Patients from the Cebu Doctors Hospital are brought outside after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit the Visayas region last year. (CDN PHOTO/CHOY ROMANO)
Fire broke out last night from the basement of the Cebu Doctors’ University Hospital in Osmeña Boulevard, Cebu City.
There were no reported casualties and all patients were evacuated to safety, the hospital administrator Oscar Tuazon, said. There were over 200 patients confined in the hospital at the time the fire broke out, he added.
The cause of the fire is still being ascertained as of deadline.
According to the Bureau of Fire Protection, they were alerted of the fire at 8:11 p.m.
Chief Insp. Rogelio Bongabong, fire marshall of Cebu City, said the fire was placed under control at 10 p.m.
Initial reports said the fire started in the hospital’s linen department and spread to the kitchen before it crept to the first floor.
Smoke filled the hospital’s upper floors prompting the hospital’s medical and non-medical staff to shift to emergency mode.
“Kalit kaayo. Nabantayan na lang namo ang aso diha sa basement (It was sudden. We just saw smoke coming out of the basement),” a security guard of the hospital said on the radio.
The 300-bed private hospital founded in 1972 is one of the top tertiary hospitals in Central Visayas.
According to its website, the hospital has state of the art facilities and ultra modern hospital complex.
Patients were initially taken to the J. Avila Street where ambulances from different hospitals and paramedic organizations were on standby while most of the responding firetrucks were positioned at the basement entrance along Gov. Roa Street.
CDN spotted some patients holding aloft their own dextrose bottles. Most of the patients were assisted by the hospital staff.
Pregnant women and those who just gave birth, including newborn babies from the hospital’s nursery were taken to the J. Avila Street side.
Tuazon said the evacuation proceeded as planned. He said the regular emergency drills helped a lot in their response, he added.
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