Fire at Taif Hospital, 85 patients evacuated, 3 injured

JEDDAH: A major fire mishap occurred at King Faisal Medical Complex in Taif on Sunday. The Civil defense teams evacuated 85 patients and shifted to other departments which are not affected by the fire.

According to the sources, a mental health patient in the patient room is suspected of setting the blaze. The patient was recently transferred from Prince Mansour Military Hospital after suffering a blood clot in the brain and he was alone in the room at the time of the incident.

Col. Nasser bin Sultan Al-Sharif, the spokesman of the General Directorate of the Civil Defense in Taif, said. “The incident resulted in the injury of one patient with minor burns to his right leg, while a security guard and nursing technician suffered smoke inhalation. The three individuals were reported in stable condition.”

He added. “An investigation remains ongoing to identify the cause of the blaze.”

Al-Sharif said. “The Civil Defense operation room had received a report about smoke coming out of the medical building. Teams were immediately dispatched to the site where they discovered that a fire had broken out in a 4-foot-by-4-foot inpatient room on the second floor in the Internal Medicine Department. The smoke spread to the entire department.”

Abdulhadi Al-Rubaie, spokesman for the Taif Health Affairs Directorate, said.”The directorate prepared 20 ambulatory teams. He said it was not necessary to transfer patients outside the hospital”.