Five officials suspended for Lucknow trauma centre fire

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government on Friday suspended five officials for dereliction of duty in King George`s Medical University (KGMU) trauma centre fire here in July, an official said.

Executive Engineers Dinesh Raj and Ram Vilas Verma, Junior Engineers S.P. Singh and Umesh Chandra Yadav and Pharmacist Pramod Kumar Pandey were suspended after the Yogi Adityanath government received a detailed probe report from the Lucknow Divisional Commissioner.

The July 15 fire left five patients dead and caused immense chaos and inconvenience as very serious patients, many on ventilators, had to be rescued in billowing smoke and raging flames.

More than 20 fire tenders doused the flames on the second and third floor of the trauma centre.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, after visiting the fire site had ordered a probe and vowed action against those found guilty.

More than 300 patients were at the trauma centre when the fire erupted.