An alleged fire emergency at the recently established Accident and Emergency (A&E) Unit of the Osun State University Teaching Hospital triggered panic among both patients and staff on Thursday morning.
An anonymous source reported that patients were observed hastily exiting the unit in response to the apparent fire. The source conveyed, “I can confirm to you that there is a fire emergency at the new Accident and Emergency unit of UNIOSUNTH this morning. I could see patients scampering for safety and running out of the A&E Unit to avoid the fire. We don’t know how the fire started but suddenly, we saw patients running for safety with blood and bandages on their body.”
In response to the incident, the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital, Prof Peter Olaitan, refuted claims of a fire outbreak. He clarified that it was a circuit breaker that had exploded. Prof. Olaitan assured that the patients were safe and located in the ward, while the hospital’s engineers were actively addressing the issue. He stated, “It is not true. There was a circuit breaker that exploded and that was all. The patients are ok and in the ward. Our engineers are already working to fix it immediately.”