THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In the wake of concerns regarding freak fire accidents, the Fire and Rescue Services Department carried out inspections in around 500 hospitals and issued notices to 206 of them which failed to meet the safety parameters. As many as 220 hospitals were found to be functioning without no-objection certificate from the department. Thiruvananthapuram has the most number of hospitals with safety issues and operating without NoC, followed by Kottayam and Kozhikode.
“A number of hospitals are functioning without fire protection installations which are required as per the Kerala Municipality Building Rules and National Building Code. The issue was found mostly in old hospitals including some of the government medical college hospitals,” said a top officer of the department. The department has directed the hospitals to install the fire protection equipment at the earliest and provide temporary measures for the time being.
TNIE had reported about the dangers of fire accidents in hospitals with the wide use of oxygen support and machinery in ICUs these days. The Disaster Management Department has also issued directions to speed up the safety audits.
The Fire and Rescue Services Department used multi-gas detectors to identify oxygen concentrations at ICUs of hospitals in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode. Guidelines were issued to hospitals and household users regarding the fire safety measures to be taken while dealing with oxygen cylinders and their transportation. The department has converted 850 breathing equipment cylinders into oxygen cylinders and supplied them to hospitals and CFLTCs facing shortage.
One of the major concerns of the department is the lack of evacuation plans in Covid hospitals and first-and second-line treatment centres. “We have given instructions to hospitals regarding evacuation plan. We have also suggested appointing a dedicated team for monitoring preventive measures round the clock,” said the officer.