By Neelam Rahim

Emergency services, including eThekwini Fire Department, Blue Security, Netcare 911 and Emer-G-Med services, were called out in the early hours of Saturday morning after a fire broke out at Life Chatsmed Gardens Hospital in Chatsworth on Saturday evening.

It’s understood the blaze started in one of the wards, Patients were safely evacuated to sister hospitals afterwards.

Emer-G-Med spokesperson Kyle van Reenen says one of those evacuated was an ICU patient.

“The patient was airlifted with the assistance of Netcare 911 through to a Life healthcare facility, whilst the remaining eight patients were transferred by ambulances to the various hospitals to ensure their further care.”

“While I can confirm at the moment that one of the wards was severely gutted by a blaze and the hospital was evacuated through the night. No injuries were sustained from the blaze itself, he said.

Life Healthcare regional manager Bhaviksha Maharaj said that “The cause of the fire has not yet been determined and hospital engineers and local fire authorities are in the process of undertaking this investigation.”