Directive comes after fire tragedy in Delhi hospital where seven babies were killed. The hospital had been operating with an expired licence
Days after seven babies were killed after a devastating fire in a hospital in East Delhi, Delhi government has asked all hospitals under its jurisdiction to conduct a fire audit by June 8 and submit a compliance report to the state health department.
State health minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said: “We had earlier asked hospitals to do fire audits and banked on self compliance. But now we have asked all hospitals to conduct fire audits and submit compliance report to the health department giving all information about the number and status of smoke detectors, sprinklers and all other fire fighting equipment. It is summer and the use of several ACs round the clock often causes a lot of load, increasing fire hazards,” Bharadwaj said.
Seven babies died when the New Born Baby care Hospital saw a major fire break out. Subsequent investigations have revealed that the hospital was operating without a legal licence. Its no objection certificate from the municipal authorities had expired but operations continued without renewal. Jitendra Singh Shunty who was one of the rescuers, told India Today: “This was not a hospital. It aws a nursing care centre for premature babies. Their facilities were very poor, they used to sell oxygen cylinders. The cylinders we normally use have a far lower pressure but they were using cylinders where the gas was stored at such a high pressure that when fire broke out it burst like an explosive.
The Delhi government has also recommended several staff members and neighbours who heroically tried to save patients, for bravery awards.
