By NNN-KUNA
Kuwait : Initial investigations revealed that the Jahra Hospital fire that took place two days before was caused by an electric lamp, a senior Kuwaiti official said Saturday night.
The Director General of the Kuwait General Fire Directorate, Maj Gen Jassim Al-Mansouri told the Kuwaiti TV that the directorate had submitted a report earlier in the day to the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah which he had demanded.
Talking to the programme that also hosted hospital director Dr. Ahmad Al-Awadhi, Al-Mansouri added that the report was initial analysis and the accurate details and circumstances of the accident would take longer time at the criminal labs.
He said an electric lamp hanging on a wall in one of the hospital corridors had got so hot that the plastic material around it melted and dropped on a plastic chair underneath, which caused the fire.
Al-Mansouri appreciated the efforts by the firemen who managed to contain the fire in 22 minutes with high efficiency.
The fire chief noted that 90 percent of the fire that took place in Kuwait hospitals were caused by electricity faults.
For his part, the Jahra Hospital director said that the two patients who had died in the fire were referred to the forensic medicine for a post-mortem examination.
He added that the accident would be seized as a chance to re-assess the safety and security measures applied in all the Kuwaiti hospital.
Al-Awadhi regretted that some newspapers lashed out at the Jahra Hospital doctors and nursing staff saying they dealt with patients in a “tragic way.”
He noted that the doctors and nurses had been so quick moving the patients to other safe rooms and other hospitals. He said that had done a good job and exerted “sincere efforts.”
He said the medical staff evacuated over 400 patients during the fire incident and the hospital was fully functional 36 hours after incident.