BHUBANESWAR: Twenty-four hours after the tragic fire snuffed out 20 lives, the Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital was staring at a battery of charges as two FIRs were registered against its management by State Government agencies.
The Fire Officer of Central Range lodged an FIR at Khandagiri Police Station citing negligence in installing fire safety measures in the hospital despite a string of recommendations made in 2013 following an audit. Charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and negligence in dealing with combustible substances were slapped against the hospital. Basing on the FIR, the Commissionerate Police arrested four employees of the hospital including the medical superintendent, two engineers and a fire officer.
The Government, clearly in the dock for not inspecting safety measures in the hospital despite making the recommendations, slapped a second case for wilful negligence against the hospital. Joint Director of Directorate of Medical Education and Training registered the FIR on the grounds that there was no evacuation plan nor a disaster response system at the private hospital.
Despite pinning down the hospital for gross negligence, the State Government was unable to explain why no verification of fire safety measures was undertaken in the last three years which eventually led to a tragedy of such proportion. In fact, the private hospital did not have a fire safety certificate at all as it had not complied to the recommendations. However, the only answer Health Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak could provide was that the Department was proceeding as per law and would not spare anyone found negligent in duty.
The charges against the private hospital were drawn after a day-long physical assessment and verification by the Fire Services Wing as well as Health Department. The Commissionerate of Police, on its part, deployed forensic and scientific teams as well as the Inspector (Electrical Safety) to assess the negligence that led to the mishap which is the biggest hospital fire in the State till date. As public anger swelled, the SUM Hospital management found itself in a hole over the outcome of the Fire Safety Audit that was carried out in 2013.
Of about a dozen recommendations made by the Fire Services Wing, the premier hospital was found wanting on some serious counts.
DG (Fire Services) Binoy Behera convened a meeting with his senior officers who were part of the fire fighting team to ascertain the safety and preventive measures placed at the hospital. Basing on the feedback of the officers, Behera submitted a report to Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi later in the day.
Sources said, SUM Hospital was asked to build a 25,000 litre capacity overhead tank to meet water needs during fire mishaps but it did not bother to create the extra storage. Shocking as it may sound, none of the fire hydrants in the hospital had any water. As a result, the fire tenders deployed on Monday evening to control the flames ran out of water and had to make several trips to the Fire Training Institute at Baramunda for refills. It consumed time and affected the operation.
During physical verification, Behera found that emergency exit staircase was not built despite a clear-cut recommendation to this effect. Such a stairwell on the outside of the hospital building was aimed at facilitating evacuation of patients and hospital staff while providing entry of fire fighters into the affected areas but its absence clearly took its toll. In the second floor of the hospital where the fire broke out, no operational water sprinklers were found. There was no automatic fire alert system in place either while the smoke detectors had their seal still unlocked.
Earlier in the day, the official death was pegged at 19. While 14 dead bodies were received at Capital Hospital, five were at AMRI Hospital. A 75-year-old patient died at AIIMS on Tuesday morning taking the toll to 20. The post-mortem of the deceased was completed before dawn and bodies were handed over to the kin of the victims. So far, 106 patients who had suffered injuries have been admitted to different hospitals of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. Health Secretary Arti Ahuja also visited the hospital’s affected areas which were sealed off while RDC (Central) AB Ota began the preliminary investigation during the day.
AI offers free flight for critical patients
Bhubaneswar: National carrier Air India has come up with a human gesture by offering free travel for patients who are battling for life after being evacuated from the SUM Hospital. The carrier would fly critical patients along with one attendant to any major city in India for treatment. “AI offers free tickets to the injured in the fire mishap, his/her companion and stretchers. Please contact Bhubaneswar Airport Manager for help,” Air India’s handle tweeted. Any one, including patients or rescuers who are critically affected (immobile) by the unfortunate incident at SUM Hospital on Monday evening, would be flown to Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore or Chennai free of cost by Air India, AI Station Manager TK Ray said. The local AI office has communicated the message from AI head office to SUM hospital authorities and requested them to keep a track of the critically ill patients. “In case, the health of any patient deteriorates, and he or she needs to be shifted out of Odisha, our airport staff have been apprised to facilitate a hassle-free flight,” added Ray.