Fire at the Social Security Hospital

About 250 people, including patients, nurses, doctors and assistants, were evacuated from two floors of the Social Security Hospital Complex, located on the Transistmica highway, due to a fire outbreak.  Ángel Delgado, from the Panama Fire Department, reported that the fire occurred in the machine room of the building, but the fire has been extinguished.  He reported that the people who were on the ground floor, and floors 1 and 2 were evacuated due to the large amount of smoke.  Agents from the Calidonia and Carrasquilla fire stations responded to the emergency call.  The fire outbreak originated on the second floor and it was preliminarily reported that an electrical fault was the problem.  Delgado said that no injuries were reported and announced that they will remain on site to carry out all the necessary evaluations, in order to guarantee that the building can be re-entered and operations can continue safely.