Tag Archives: news

PGI fire incidents: Committee’s report attributes cause of fires to UPS batteries

IEP Chandigarh October 25

Around two weeks after a major fire broke out at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER’s) Nehru block, necessitating the evacuation of over 400 patients on the intervening night of October 9/10 and another fire incident that happened in Advanced Eye Centre on October 16, the committee comprising 14 members headed by acting Dean Academics Naresh Panda has attributed the cause of recent fires to batteries, particularly UPS batteries. The committee has additionally pinpointed several specific areas within the hospital premises where UPS batteries could potentially contribute to major fire incidents.

Interacting with the media persons, PGIMER director Dr Vivek Lal said that the Committee has recommended plethora of measures for fire-safety including continuous & comprehensive upgradation of systems. The entire upkeep of the UPS battery systems backup has been handed over to the biomedical division and UPS batteries being identified as the hot-spot, are being shifted from the premises to safer places or at the edge of the buildings so that the smoke goes out in case of fire. Most of the work in this regard has been initiated, he added.

Punjab Health Department official  issues advisory to beware of fake & baseless news

IEP Chandigarh July 22, 2022

Out rightly rejecting a news item published in a prominent vernacular newspaper today, Civil Surgeon Dr. Adarshpal Kaur and epidemiologist Dr. Harmandeep Kaur said that no case of Monkeypox has been reported in the district Mohali. Notably, it was stated in the news that some positive cases of Monkeypox have been reported among the students of a school in the city.

          Health officials said that the concerned news item is completely baseless and sans facts. They clarified that three students of the concerned school had some symptoms of hand-foot and mouth disease, whose samples were sent to a lab for testing. According to the report of one sample, one student has hand, foot and mouth disease while the report of the other two samples will come out soon. They said, as of now, there are two cases of Monkeypox in the country and not a single case has been reported in the state.

          Officials said that hand foot & mouth disease usually affects children under 10 years of age. The main symptoms include ulcers in the mouth and red rashes on the hands and feet. They said that there is no need to panic about this disease because it is a self limiting viral disease which is not related to monkey disease in any way.