Delhi govt tells private hospitals to appoint officer for fire safety

NEW DELHI:  The Delhi government has asked all private hospitals providing Covid- related treatment to appoint a nodal officer for fire safety at their premises.

“In respect to the direction of the Supreme Court of India, all private hospitals providing Covid-related treatment are directed to appoint/designate a nodal officer for fire safety measures, who shall be responsible for ensuring the compliance of all fire safety measures,” read the order issued by the state government.

The government’s order comes seven months after the Supreme Court’s direction, on December 18 last year, expressing concern over increasing fire accidents in healthcare facilities in the country.

Last year, the apex court had directed all the states to constitute a committee in each district to conduct a fire audit of Covid-19 hospitals at least once a month. The committee should inform the management of medical establishments about any deficiency and report back to the government for taking follow up action, the court had said.

It had further directed that Covid hospitals which have not obtained a no-objection certificate from the concerned fire department should be asked to immediately apply for the certificate and after necessary inspection by the fire safety officials, a decision should be taken in this regard.

In June alone, two incidents of fire were reported in different department of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences while a large fire had broken out in Safdarjung Hospital’s ICU ward where 60 critical patients were getting treatment.