Bhubaneswar, Oct. 18: Saraswati Jana had come all the way from Midnapore in Bengal with a hope that her eyes would be treated at Sum hospital. 

She reached the health care facility at four in the morning only to find thick smoke billowing out of the hospital and hundreds of people gathered near the hospital. 

“I had no idea what was happening. I saw policemen and other people gathered outside the hospital. We then asked one of the security officials who told us about the fire. We had no other option but to wait for things to normalise,” said the 40-year-old woman.

Jana, who was accompanied by her husband, came to know about the hospital from people in her neighbourhood. “We had heard that treatment here is affordable and fast,” she said.

Unfortunately, the situation has changed a lot since yesterday. A number of patients were discharged from the health care facility this morning. 

Jana and her husband had to wait in the lobby till late in the afternoon before her treatment began. Like Jana, a number of people had come from far-off places for treatment. 

Around 2pm, much to the relief of patients who had come from far-off places, an announcement was made that services had been regularised. 

The entire area where the incident occurred was sealed for investigation.

Apart from the dialysis, emergency and ICU wards, services in other departments of the hospital resumed today.

“Doctors and other staff members are back on track,” said Lingaraj Rath, patient relation officer of IMS and Sum Hospital.

“Last night was frightening and we do not want to take any risk. Our cabin was near the affected area as there was no one around and I had to lift my mother in my arms and bring her out of the hospital,” said Sambhrat Keshari Swain. 

Sum Hospital is an intrinsic part of the Institute of Medical Sciences with a total number of 750 beds, 25 intensive care beds and 150 cabins.

“We had never faced such a situation in our hospital. There was panic all around. We have been facing brickbats from attendants who till yesterday praised us for our facilities. It feels really bad,” said Tulasi Behera, one of the nurses.