Patients and staff were evacuated safely as a fire gutted the theatre section of Mitchells Plain day hospital in Cape Town on Friday afternoon.

Fire and rescue spokesperson Jermaine Carelse said just before 2pm that firefighters had managed to contain the blaze but were continuing with efforts to fully extinguish the flames. 

"The patients and staff were safely evacuated," he said. 

"This incident is still ongoing - the fire has been contained to the theatre section of the hospital," he said.

This is a developing story.