A fire broke out at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) in Manila early Sunday.

The fire raged for close to four hours that started around 1 a.m. before it was controlled, according to the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).

There were no reports of injuries or casualties, the Manila Public Information Office said.

The blaze started at the operating room’s sanitization area on the third floor of PGH’s central building, the BFP said.

No other part of the sprawling hospital was affected.

The MPIO said 12 babies were transferred to the Santa Ana Hospital and two patients due for an appendectomy were taken to the Ospital ng Maynila.

Fifteen fire trucks responded to the blaze.

The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) sent two of its own fire trucks and four ambulances. The PRC response team assisted and transported patients to the hospital’s new emergency room building and transported a cancer patient to Manila Doctors Hospital, Sen. Richard Gordon, PRC chairman, said in a tweet.

Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said Malacañang was saddened by the fire.

The PGH is the country’s biggest Covid-19 referral hospital.

Roque said the Palace thanked the people who immediately responded to the hospital’s call for cash donations.

“Big or small, cash or in kind, these acts of kindness and generosity would be of great help and assistance to those who are in need,” he said.

Sen. Emmanuel Joel Villanueva said the government could tap P19.4 billion in unused calamity funds in 2020 and 2021 to finance the repair of the PGH.

“The PGH should be repaired in the same way it treats patients — urgently — and the available balance of the calamity fund for the two fiscal years can make this possible,” Villanueva said.

Even if PGH is covered by insurance, “I am sure it won’t be enough to replace the damage. That is why it is necessary to use the calamity fund,” he said.

Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan went on Twitter to urge the public to help rehabilitate the PGH.

“It is not only the PGH and its patients who suffer but the public too,” Villanueva said.

“A PGH with a reduced operational capacity would aggravate the chronic bed shortage for patients with severe Covid-19 and others, like those with cancer, who seek treatment from one of the nation’s best public hospitals,” he said.

Under the 2021 national budget, the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Fund (NDRRMF) has appropriated P20 billion, of which P5 billion is for the Marawi rehabilitation, he said.

There is also the P5.14 billion in the 2020 NDRRMF carried over for 2021 spending, bringing to P25.14 billion the starting year balance of the fund.

As of April 30, only P2.9 billion has been released, while P2.7 billion was up for release, leaving P19.445 billion in the calamity fund.

Although the NDRRMF is better known as the “salvation fund” for communities hit by typhoons, floods, drought, earthquakes and other natural calamities, the provisions of the national budget “actually allow its disbursement for man-made calamities such as town razed down by fire,” Villanueva said.