DAP wants the government to form a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate the Oct 25 Sultanah Aminah Hospital (HSA) fire in Johor Baru.

The party's Johor chief Liew Chin Tong said that an RCI was required not only to investigate but also to come out with guidelines to ensure that such a tragedy won't recur.

Furthermore, he argued that an RCI would be free from outside interference.

"We want the government to form an RCI to look into the incident at HSA.

"It is important that other than investigations by relevant departments, that the commission be tasked (to investigate) independently, free from outside (interference), (as it is) respected, empowered to give proposals on... our hospitals as well as how we manage them.

"One aspect is hospital support services," said Liew during a press conference at Parliament House today.

He was referring to the deadly blaze which occurred at about 9am on Tuesday, at the hospital's Intensive Care Unit that claimed the lives of six patients.

Fire and Rescue personnel managed to rescue one patient from the ICU, while three staff members were also injured in their attempt to fight the blaze and rescue the patients.

Yesterday, just one day after the tragedy, another incident caused further alarm at the medical facility as plumes of smoke emerged from an operating theatre caused by a short-circuit.

An inter-agency task force had already been set-up to investigate the fire.