NEW DELHI: There were “unqualified” doctors working at Baby Care New Born Hospital; safety norms in cases of emergency were flouted left-and-right, and the neonatal facility was operating without a No Objection Certificate from the fire department; these were the ‘revelations’ after seven innocent infant lives were lost in the Vivek Vihar fire tragedy.
According to Delhi Fire Service (DFS) chief Atul Garg, the hospital was operating without a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the fire department. There were gross violation of fire safety norms by the hospital authorities which led to the death of seven newborns, fire department personnel pointed out.
It is pertinent to mention here that the fire department does not directly deal with the public to provide an NOC as it is not a licensing authority. Senior DFS officials say, it is the duty of the building authority or the civic agency to refer the case to the, before permitting or providing a license to an establishment.
However, in the present case, the matter is still under probe as it is yet to be ascertained if the hospital even required an NOC, as only buildings above the height of nine metres require a NOC from the fire department, the DFS chief told this newspaper. “The MCD will check if the building is nine metres and above,” he said.
According to cops, the owner of the facility, Dr Naveen Kichi, was booked and later held.
“License issued to the Baby Care New Born Child Hospital has already expired on March 31. As per the expired license, the hospital was allowed five beds only, but at the time of incident twelve new born children were admitted in the facility,” a senior officer said.
He also said the doctors were not qualified to treat newborns in need of neonatal incentive care. “There was no fire extinguisher installed in the said hospital for emergency condition in case of eruption of fire. There is no emergency exit in the facility in case of any untoward incident,” the senior officer added.
