The Judiciary Police (PJ) said in a statement yesterday that a local woman with a mental illness allegedly set fire to an observation room of the emergency department of the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre in the early hours of yesterday.
According to the statement, no-one was injured in the fire, which was quickly extinguished by a nurse.
The Public Security Police (PSP) transferred the case to the Judiciary Police for follow-up investigation at around 5:45 a.m. yesterday, the statement said.
According to the statement, the woman was taken to the hospital by ambulance at around 3:15 a.m. yesterday after getting drunk. As the woman kept shouting and screaming in the hospital, the statement said, she was then taken to the emergency department’s observation room.
At 4:20 a.m., the statement said, a nurse walking past the observation room found that a bed sheet and a mattress in the room was on fire, because of which she immediately used a fire extinguisher to put the fire out. The nurse then informed PSP officers stationed in the hospital of the incident, the statement.
However, the statement did not elaborate on how the woman had allegedly set the fire.
According to the statement, hospital doctors told PJ officers that the woman has a mental illness and is required to go to the hospital to receive follow-up diagnosis and treatment regularly.
Hospital staff also told PJ officers that they were still calculating the financial loss resulting from the fire, the statement said.
