Fire at Nehru Hospital block of PGIMER-Chandigarh, over 400 patients evacuated
Chandigarh (PTI): More than 400 patients were evacuated to safety after a major fire broke out in PGIMER-Chandigarh's Nehru Hospital block late last night, officials said on Tuesday.
No injuries were reported in the incident.
An official of the fire and emergency services department said that 11 fire tenders including one each from Panchkula and Mohali were pressed into service to quickly control the blaze.
"There is no casualty or injury to anyone in the incident," the official said.
The fire broke out in the UPS system of the computer room on the first floor around 11.45 pm on Monday, with the smoke making its way up to the higher floors, the officials said.
The windowpanes on some of the upper floors were broken to let the smoke out and prevent any suffocation incidents, they said.
The patients evacuated included 34 from the intensive care unit (ICU) and 80 pregnant women. Fifty-six babies and 17 undergoing treatment in the paediatric ward were also moved to safety.
Fire tenders were immediately pressed into service and brought the blaze under control after some time, the officials added.
The fire and emergency services and the disaster management departments, police and the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research's (PGIMER) own emergency response system immediately swung into action after the fire was reported.
PGIMER and disaster management department officials said all the patients were immediately evacuated and shifted to safe zones and relocated to other wards.
"We evacuated 424 patients. We have an extension building in Nehru Hospital where some of them were shifted. Everyone worked as a team in PGI with the Chandigarh Union Territory administration's support," PGIMER Medical Superintendent Vipin Koushal told PTI.
"There was no loss of life. But damage to property has taken place due to the fire and restoration work is being started," he said.
According to a statement issued by PGIMER during the day, the fire occurred in the computer room of Nehru Hospital's C-Block. The reason of the fire is believed to be a short circuit, it said.
The C-Block houses a dialysis unit, adult kidney unit, renal transplant unit, male and female medical wards, gynaecology, maternity, nursery and neonatal ICU, bone marrow transplant and operation theatres that function round-the-clock throughout the year, it added.
"As soon as the incident occurred, security officers, fire officers and staff members including faculty, residents, staff nurses and subordinate staff of PGI got into action and all the patients from these areas were rescued and shifted to the safer areas," said the statement.
Sources said though initially the fire triggered panic among the patients and their attendants, authorities quickly swung into action and brought the situation was brought under control.
PGIMER Director Prof Vivek Lal, senior faculty members, the medical superintendent and administrative officers reached the spot immediately. The PGIMER's fire and engineering wings also swung into action to provide the support required for patient care, it said.
A disaster management department official said, "All patients were safely evacuated. We cleared the ICU, respiratory ICU ... Our rescue team worked in coordination with the police, the fire department and PGI departments."
The smoke and heat spread to the corridors due to which the patients from the adjoining areas' advanced urology centre and male surgical ward were also shifted to safety to avoid any sort of suffocation incident, according to the statement.
The patients were shifted to two different areas of Nehru Hospital and its extension block.
The authorities also moved the patients admitted in the adjoining wards and corridors to other wards or ICUs to avoid any untoward incident as the smoke spread.
The evacuation was done within 60 minutes and there was no loss of life. Around 2 am, all the services related to patient care were mostly restored, the statement said.
Director Lal has instructed the engineering wing for immediate restoration of the affected areas.
The statement said the areas affected will require major repairs and operation theatres and other facilities are expected to be made functional as soon as possible. At present, alternative arrangements have been made in other areas of the institute, Advanced Trauma Centre and the extension block.
A 14-member committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of Dean (Academic) Prof Naresh Panda to ascertain the exact cause of the fire and work out an action plan to avoid such incidents in the future, the statement said.
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India-UK clinches trade deal; duty cut on British whisky, cars
boost to garment, leather goods exports
New Delhi/London, May 6 (PTI): India and the UK clinched a 'landmark' trade deal that will remove taxes on the export of labour-intensive products such as leather, footwear and clothing, while making imports of whisky and cars from Britain cheaper, in a bid to double trade between the two economies to USD 120 billion by 2030.
The world's fifth and sixth-largest economies concluded the deal after three years of on-off negotiations.
The pact lowers tariffs on 99 per cent of Indian goods to zero in the UK market while allowing Indian workers to travel to the UK for work without changing Britain's point-based immigration system.
Taxes on export of Indian clothing, frozen prawns, jewellery and gems will be cut.
And so will be the import of whisky and gin from the UK after the treaty halved the tariff to 75 per cent initially and to 40 per cent by the 10th year.
Tariffs on automotive imports will go from over 100 per cent to 10 per cent under quotas on both sides, benefiting companies such as Tata-JLR.
Indian goods that will enter the UK at zero duty include minerals, chemicals, gems and jewellery, plastic, rubber, wood, paper, textile, clothing, glass, ceramic, base metals, mechanical and electrical machinery, arms/ammunition, transport/auto, furniture, sports goods, animal products, and processed food.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the pact as a "landmark" that will "make working people and businesses better off in both our countries."
Calling the pact "a historic milestone," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the successful conclusion of an ambitious and mutually beneficial Free Trade Agreement, along with a Double Contribution Convention "will further deepen our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, and catalyse trade, investment, growth, job creation, and innovation in both our economies".
The two have also concluded the negotiations for the Double Contribution Convention Agreement, or social security pact. It would help avoid double contribution to social security funds by Indian professionals working for a limited period in Britain.
"The exemption for Indian workers who are temporarily in the UK and their employers from paying social security contributions in the UK for a period of three years under the Double Contribution Convention will lead to significant financial gains for the Indian service providers," the commerce ministry said.
It added that this pact will enhance competitiveness of domestic professionals in the UK market that would create new job opportunities as well as benefit a large number of Indians working in the UK.
However, the talks for the bilateral investment treaty (BIT) are still going on. Earlier, there were plans to conclude all three simultaneously.
According to the Commerce Ministry, the FTA with the UK is a modern, comprehensive and landmark agreement which seeks to achieve deep economic integration along with trade liberalisation and tariff concessions.
It said India will gain from tariff elimination on about 99 per cent of the tariff lines (or product categories) covering almost 100 per cent of the trade value offering huge opportunities for increase in the bilateral trade between the two nations.
"The FTA provides a positive impact on manufacturing across labour and technology-intensive sectors and opens up export opportunities for sectors such as textiles, marine products, leather, footwear, sports goods and toys, gems and jewellery and other important sectors such as engineering goods, auto parts and engines and organic chemicals," it said.
This will substantially improve Indian goods competitiveness in the UK vis-a-vis other countries.
On the services front, India will benefit in sectors such as IT/ITeS, finance, professional, and educational services.
The FTA has eased mobility for professionals including contractual service suppliers; business visitors; investors; intra-corporate transferees; partners and dependent children of intra-corporate transferees with right to work; and independent professionals like yoga instructors, musicians and chefs.
"Immense opportunities for talented and skilled Indian youth will open up in the UK which is a major global centre for digitally delivered services due to its strong financial and professional services sectors and advanced digital infrastructure," it said.
Further, India has secured significant commitments on digitally delivered services such as architecture, engineering, computer-related and telecommunication services.
It also said that India has ensured that non-tariff barriers are suitably addressed to ensure free flow of goods and services and that they do not create unjustified restrictions to domestic exports.
Describing it as a "historic" deal, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said it is the biggest deal the UK has done since leaving the EU (European Union) and the "most" ambitious India has ever done.
The deal will now go through the process of legal text formalisation to be approved by the British Parliament before it comes into force. It may take about a year for the implementation.
The pact comes at a time when global trade is facing headwinds due to the imposition of tariffs by the US.
The talks for the pact started in January 2022. Both sides held 14 rounds of talks for the conclusion of the talks.
In FTAs, two countries either eliminate or significantly reduce customs duties on maximum goods traded between them. They also ease norms for promoting trade in services and bilateral investments.
The bilateral trade between India and the UK increased to USD 21.34 billion in 2023-24 from USD 20.36 billion in 2022-23.
During April-January 2024-25, the trade in goods stood at USD 21.33 billion as against USD 20.26 billion in 2023-24. The trade gap is in the favour of India.
This forward-looking agreement benefits our farmers, fishermen, MSMEs, startups, exporters and aligns with India's vision of Viksit Bharat 2047.
— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) May 6, 2025
It also supports the shared growth ambitions of both our nations. 🇮🇳🤝🇬🇧 https://t.co/5UGNqKkeJq
