Ramathibodi Hospital's Building 1 has been closed for 48 hours following a fire last night. All medical services for out-patients and surgery are suspended, to allow inspectors to check the safety of the building, according to an announcement by the Faculty of Medicine at Mahidol University.
Medical records, blood donations and blood test services have been temporarily relocated to the Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Building.
Smoke and fire was detected in Building 1 at about 7.20pm on Tuesday. Firefighters and other emergency services were immediately alerted and all patients were safely evacuated.
The fire is reported to have started on the second floor, next to the blood testing room and a cold storage facility, before it spread to documents and tables, forcing officials to cut the electricity supply.
The fire lasted about 20 minutes before it was extinguished, as emergency teams evacuated patients under the close supervision of doctors and nurses.
Dr Arthit Angkanon, dean of the Faculty of Medicine, said that some of the in-patients were transferred to two nearby hospitals.
He also said that, since Building 1 houses many departments, two surgery wards, a prenatal and delivery ward, the blood bank and an X-ray room, it had to be closed temporarily to allow inspectors to check the structure of the building.
No patients or officials were injured in the fire, according to the announcement.
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