Nigerian Teaching Hospital confirms fire incident

A fire outbreak was on Sunday, at approximately 8:10 a.m. recorded at the University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan, one of Nigeria’s oldest teaching hospitals.

According to the hospital management, the incident was caused by a spark at the changeover box in the medicine laboratory on the third floor.

In a statement signed by its Public Relations Officer, Funmi Adetuyibi, the hospital said the fire outbreak was limited to the change over panel in one of the rooms in the laboratory.

“Most of the pictures of the fire outbreak being spread around are NOT pictures of the University College Hospital, Ibadan,” the statement noted.

It said that no major damage was recorded and that the “fire was put out immediately by the courageous staff of the hospital who were on the ground.”

“The management of the hospital under the leadership of the Chief Medical Director (CMD), Jesse Otegbayo, has put in place all necessary measures to prevent such occurrences in the hospital,” it added.

Similar incident

A similar incident occurred at the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in August 2023.

While the management did not give the details of the damage caused by the fire incident, PREMIUM TIMES learnt that an asthmatic worker in the facility suffered an attack as a result of the fume and was rushed to the emergency unit for urgent medical attention.

Officials at the hospital told this newspaper that the occupants of the facility had been perceiving the foul smell of a burning wire for more than 48 hours before the incident.

Also in April 2023, one of the residential blocks at the hospital was gutted by fire. Punch Newspaper reported that no lives were lost.