Odisha-like tragedy waiting to happen in Chennai?

A ground report by Express shows that both government and private hospitals in Chennai are ill-equipped to handle a fire

Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital’s old surgical block, which does not have fire extinguishers; 

CHENNAI: The tragedy that claimed the lives of 20 people at SUM Hospital in Bhubaneswar might have come as a shock of an accident in a distant land. But the hospitals in the heart of Chennai are just as prepared as the ill-fated Odisha hospital was in the event of a fire mishap, a ground reality check by Express reveals.

An extinguisher at the hospital which
should have been refilled eight months
ago | Ashwin Prasath

At the Government Stanley Medical College and Hospital, there were hydrants, but there was no proper connection to them. The hose was missing on hose reel and almost all the fire extinguishers Express checked did not have next refilling date mentioned. Most of the hose boxes were empty.
“It is important to have hoses ready on every high-risk floor in the hospitals. It is a must in the intensive care unit floor,” said a fire and rescue service personnel. But at an ICU in the hospital, there was one hydrant. Again, the fire extinguishers did not have the due date for refilling mentioned. There were also no sprinkler systems in the buildings.
The most saddening to see was the vascular surgery floor at the old building, where minor fires were reported twice in the past few months. It did not have proper fire extinguishers or safety equipment in place.

The scene at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital was much better in the Tower-I and Tower-II blocks with the fire safety equipment in proper shape. Also, in the Intensive Surgical Care Unit, ward 213, where a fire broke a few months ago and three patients in the ward died the same day (though the hospital did not attribute it directly to the fire), the fire extinguishers were refilled and kept ready for use.
But, Orthopaedics and Traumatology building and old surgical block, just behind the Tower-I and Tower-II blocks seemed to be completely neglected. There was not a single fire extinguisher at any of the floors surveyed by Express.
When asked about this, an official of the hospital said, “We will look into it and rectify the issues.”
The scene was not very different in the private sector. A private multi-speciality hospital in Mylapore did not have fire extinguishers or fire safety equipment in most of the wards checked by Express. The hospital’s exit and entry were also too narrow for immediate evacuation in case of an emergency. The story was almost similar in another private hospital at North Chennai.