14ymedio, Havana, 11 January 2019 — The Miguel Enríquez Clinical Surgical Teaching Hospital of Havana suffered a fire on Thursday night that forced the immediate evacuation of some patients. This Friday morning personnel were still working on the resumption of services and the cleaning of the damaged areas.
As reported by the official press, the incident began in the “ventilation shaft of the acute care area” of the hospital institution, located in the municipality of 10 de Octubre and more popularly known as La Benéfica. The incident affected the electricity and about 100 beds located between the second and seventh floors.
The trained forces of firefighters and hospital workers helped to control the flames so that they did not spread to other areas of the building to where most of the patients were evacuated. Those hospitalized with more serious conditions were transferred to nearby facilities, hospital director Jorge Daniel Poyo explained to the press.
No other details are known currently about what occurred but the cause of the fire is already under investigation as well as an assessment of the damage it caused.
Last year two other health facilities were also affected by fires, the Hospital Oncológico and the Pediatric Marfán, both located in Havana.
Translated by Wilfredo Díaz Echevarria
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