HYDERABAD: After an infant died and three more were injured in a fire mishap at Shine Hospital in LB Nagar on Monday, Express found that many hospitals in the city, including government hospitals, do not follow fire safety regulations.
The State fire department had recently issued 21 prosecution orders to hospital buildings, of which 16 were issued for lack of fire safety regulations. Out of the 21 prosecuted hospitals, three hospitals were penalised while cases against 18 remain pending. Additionally, seven other hospital buildings have been refused the renewal of their no-objection certificates (NOCs).
C Lakshmi Prasad, director (FAC) of Telangana State Disaster Response and Fire Service Department, told Express, "Any building that is over 15 meters in height and is not under the purview of GHMC, is subjected to surprise checks by the Fire department. We randomly select five buildings, including malls, office spaces and hospitals for inspections."
Niloufer Hospital, which is one of the largest paediatric hospitals in the State, could only to arrange fire extinguishers and abide by the safety regulations for the new building that was inaugurated two years back. Meanwhile, its old building continues to have a single rusty fire extinguisher for the entire building.
Dr Murali Krishna, superintendent of Niloufer Hospital, admitted that annual maintenance and training of personnel has not been done in recent years. He further added, “We have sent representation to TSMSIDC regarding the same. We shall soon be taking up the training of personnel, which will include all the staff.”
NOC renewal period to reduce
The Fire department is also planning to reduce the renewal period for the fire NOCs. “We are now planning to also reduce the renewal time period of NOCs from five years to one year,” Lakshmi Prasad added. Gandhi Hospital, which caters to one of the largest pediatric divisions in the State, is full of defunct fire extinguishers, water hoses and staff who do not know how to use these safety mechanisms.
Choosing to stay anonymous, a senior doctor in the casualty ward said, “None of the staff, including senior doctors, have received any training in years to tackle a fire emergency situation, including rules and regulations of how to move the patients, which patients should be moved first, etc.” The water hose stations across the hospital have become default trash cans and spittoons.
As Express, went around all the top government hospitals, none of the staff, including security guards and ward attendants could operate even a basic fire extinguisher. The situation was similar in smaller private pediatric clinics and hospitals.