LAHORE: A huge fire erupting in a Gulberg warehouse on Wednesday reduced to ashes a large quantity of expensive medical and surgical equipment stored there, meant for supply to hospitals.

The warehouse management accused Rescue 1122 of delayed response to their emergency call, claiming that had the firefighters reached the spot timely, at least 60 per cent of the loss could have been averted.

The fire erupted at the warehouse located at 62, T Block, near MM Alam Road in Gulberg II.

A senior manager of the warehouse has estimated the loss at nearly one billion rupees, saying that 2,000 oxygenators used in cardiac surgeries were also in the stock that was completely gutted as each of the equipment was worth Rs125,000.

Rescue 1122 firefighters accused of delayed response

He said that several other expensive medical and surgical equipment, including endoscopes, anesthesia machines, cardiac monitors, aspirators (also known as suction machines), besides disposable items, had been stored in the warehouse. The fire also burnt furniture, computers, laptops and other accessories, he added.

The medical and surgical devices were to be supplied to the hospitals across the country for cardiac and other procedures, he said, adding that the warehouse was closed at the time when the fire erupted.

He said a medical equipment engineer, Mr Akmal, first saw plumes of dense smoke emanating from the warehouse at around 9:15am when he had just reached his office.

The engineer, along with other staffers, quickly unlocked the main door of the building, and initially tried to control the blaze with fire extinguishers, and then called Rescue 1122 at around 9:28am, the senior manager said.

He claimed that the Rescue 1122 firefighters reached there at 10:15am, when the fire had engulfed almost entire warehouse, gutting everything stored there.

The owner of the warehouse has been intimated about the incident, the manager added.

Initially, the Rescue 1122 generated a message for the media persons saying the fire erupted in a ‘cotton godown’. Later, the spokesperson sent another message at 10:17am, saying it was a warehouse where the refilling of oxygen cylinders was being done.

In the third message, issued at 11:20am, he said the building was housing a stock of medicines and repeated the claim of refilling of cylinders, putting a question mark on the authenticity of the information dished out by the Rescue 1122 emergency service.

The Rescue 1122 spokesperson finally told the media persons at 12:32pm that the fire had been controlled and the cooling process was in progress.

The warehouse management accused the Rescue 1122 of gross negligence in dealing with the fire incident and demanded an impartial inquiry to dig out the facts and fix the responsibility for providing “misleading” information about the incident.

Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2024