Small fire at Victoria Jubilee Hospital, elective surgeries suspended

Elective surgeries have been suspended at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital in Kingston after a "small fire" near an operating theatre early Friday morning.

There were no injuries, according to Wentworth Charles, chairman of the South East Regional Health Authority, the body that oversees the maternity hospital.

He says the fire started about 3 a.m. in a room used by nurses near the operating theatre on the second floor of a building.

The maintenance team confined the blaze to the room.

"There was a lot of smoke so we had to evacuate our staff to alternative locations. The fire was put out. The fire brigade was called, they came and they carried out their own inspection," he told The Gleaner.

He says elective surgeries have been suspended for the day and efforts are under way to have normality return by Saturday.

Emergency surgeries are being accommodated at a second operating theatre, while some activities are being done at the Kingston Public Hospital, Charles says.

The hospitals share the same property.

Charles says fire officials are conducting assessments to determine the cause of the fire.

Victoria Jubilee Hospital is the largest referral maternal facility in the English-speaking Caribbean

More details later.

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