Jammu, Dec 17: The patients and nursing staff in a ward of Shri Maharaja Gulab Singh Hospital had a narrow escape when portion of a roof collapsed at paediatric and gynaecology wing on Saturday.
 Eyewitnesses said the roof collapsed when nurses were on routine duty in the ward number 17 of SMGS hospital where 55 patients were admitted for treatment.
 Horrified patients and attendants, eyewitnesses said, rushed out of the ward for safety fearing further collapse of the roof. No one was hurt in the collapse.
 The hospital administration and police rushed to the ward and took stock of the situation.
 Taking safety measure, the patients were shifted to another ward.
 The spokesperson of SMGS Hospital said, "The children's ward had been vacated a few days ago for repair work."
 SMGS is the first government hospital in Jammu which was inaugurated in May 1940.
 Meanwhile, minister for medical education R S Chib said that the portion of the building was neither used as ward nor any patient was in the collapsed portion at the time of the incident.
 Accordingly, he said there was no loss of life or injury to any person. Meanwhile, he directed Commissioner/Secretary, Health G. A. Peer to issue enquiry order into the matter to ascertain the causes of the incident and get the entire building inspected by R & B department on priority to ascertain safety of other portions of the building.
 An official statement said that at the behest of Minister, the Commissioner/Secretary has constituted a 3-member committee, headed by senior most Professor Anis Choudhary to look into the causes of the incident. The committee will have Administrator, Associated Hospitals, Jammu A N Kundal and Ex En, R & B as members.
 Peer also wrote a letter to the Chief Engineer, R & B asking him to carry out thorough inspection of the building to ascertain its safety.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 17 Dec 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 17 Dec 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 18 Dec 2011 00:00:00 IST