However, no casualties were reported.
Johor health, environment, education and information committee chairman, Ayub Rahmat said a nurse noticed sparks coming out of the machine at 3.50pm.
“The staff used fire extinguishers and followed firefighting protocols to put out the ensuing flames quickly,” he said in a statement here today.
He said the machine was used at the end of each shift to pack surgical equipment before sending them to the hospital’s Central Sterile Service Unit (CSSU) to be sterilised.
It was an isolated incident and that the firefighting team called to investigate advised that the area be quarantined temporarily, but scheduled surgeries went ahead as planned at other operating theatres, he said.
“Four other adjacent operating theatres were also shut temporarily. All operating theatres resumed operations as normal this morning,” he added.
In October last year, six patients were killed in a fire that broke out at the intensive care unit of the same hospital.