The United Hospital authorities didn't try to rescue the coronavirus patients from the isolation unit after the fire broke out there, according to a police investigation committee report.
A doctor and two nurses, who were on duty at the isolation unit, also took no steps to shift the patients elsewhere, according to the findings of the three-member probe committee.
Sudip Chakraborty, deputy commissioner of Gulshan Division police, said the committee headed by Abdul Ahad, additional deputy commissioner of Gulshan Division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, submitted the report to the DMP Commissioner on Wednesday.
The report will be sent to police headquarters soon, DC Sudip Chakraborty said
Only a cleaner, Md Arafat, first tried to extinguish the fire using his broom. This, however, did not work and the fire began to spread.
The fire spread from an air-conditioner in the doctor's room. When the fire broke out, the duty doctor left immediately and he was soon followed by the two nurses.
Arafat tried to battle the flames with water, but by then smoke had engulfed the entire room, the police investigation team said.
Police investigation sources said that the hospital authorities used flammable things for the isolation unit.
Regarding the role in stopping the fire, DC Sudip Chakrabarty said none except the cleaner Arafat came forward.
Earlier, the Fire Service and Civil Defence found evidence of gross mismanagement and negligence of the United Hospital authorities.
The fire originated from an old and faulty air-conditioner in the Covid-19 corona isolation unit of the United Hospital on May 27, leaving five patients killed in the makeshift unit of the hospital, according to sources.
The United Hospital authorities must take responsibility for the death of five Covid -19 patients, according to the report.
Five victims, who died in the tragic fire incident, were Vernon Anthony Paul, 75, Riyajul Alam, 45, Khodeja Begum, 70, Md Monir Hossain, 75, and Md Mahabub, 50.
