A fire broke out in an ICU section of a government hospital in Maharashtra's Kolhapur district on September 28 and three of the 15 patients who were safely moved out of the affected area later died due to other health complications, officials said.

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A senior official clarified that these deaths were not linked to the fire incident and the patients were already in critical condition and on ventilator support at Kolhapur's Chhatrapati Pramila Raje General Hospital, around 230 km from here. The government-run hospital is a key facility for COVID-19 patients in Kolhapur district, but it was not clear how many of them were in the ICU section at the time of the fire which was later extinguished. The fire broke out in the trauma ICU section of the hospital early in the morning due to a short-circuit, hospital Dean Dr Chandrakant Mhase said.

"All the 15 patients admitted there were shifted to another section of the ICU and no one was hurt in the incident," he said. The blaze was immediately put out by fire brigade personnel with the help of hospital's security staff, Mhase said. "Of the 15 patients, who were shifted out of the trauma ICU section after the fire, three patients who were very critical later died," said medical superintendent of the hospital, Dr Rahul Bade. He said these three patients were on ventilator support and their condition was critical ever since they were admitted to the hospital. They had comorbidities and severe infection in the lungs, Bade said in the evening. He said a high-level committee has been formed to inquire into the fire incident. The probe panel will have seven members, Bade added.