70 evacuated from SGH after fire breaks out
A fire broke out at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) yesterday after a scanner overheated.
At about 1.50pm, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) was alerted to a fire at basement one of Block 2, 1 Hospital Drive. A spokesman told The New Paper the small fire, which involved an electrical component, had burned itself out before SCDF's arrival.
He said as a safety precaution, SCDF evacuated about 70 people from the premises.
There were no reported injuries and the cause of the fire was still under investigation, the spokesman added.
SGH chief operating officer Tan Jack Thian told TNP in a statement that the smoke detector alarm at the basement was activated and its response team was on site within minutes.
He said the staff and patients were evacuated according to its fire safety evacuation plan.
Mr Tan said: "Preliminary investigation revealed that an electrical component inside a scanner had overheated and emitted smoke."
The scanner, used for clinical imaging, was housed in the department of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging.
He said no one was in danger at any time and the scanner was immediately shut down.
He added: "There was minimal disruption to our service and we were able to arrange for patients to have their scans done using other scanners in the department, after the premises was cleared of smoke and the SCDF had given the clearance to re-enter."
The hospital has made arrangements for patients to have their scans rescheduled.
"We apologise for the inconvenience caused by this incident," said Mr Tan.
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