Hospital blaze kills 1: Fire dept flags bunch of safety violations
NEW DELHI: A fire broke out at the intensive care unit (ICU) of private hospital in northwest Delhi’s Budh Vihar early on Saturday morning, killing a 64-year-old man patient in the facility, police officers said, as the fire department pointed out a host of safety norm violations in the building, prompting them to cancel its no-objection certificate (NOC). The facility’s firefighting system was defunct and the emergency doors and one of the two staircases locked, chained and blocked, the fire department said.
Seventeen patients and their relatives were evacuated from the blaze at the four-storey building in Brahm Shakti Hospital near Rohini, officials said, and the police have registered a case.
The blaze set off panic on the floor, with patients and hospital staff trying to escape down the only available staircase, even as the flames started to spread to the second floor. The victim, Holi Ram, was suffering from a kidney ailment and was on ventilator support, fire officials said, adding that an autopsy will determine the precise cause of his death. The police, however, said they suspect that he died either of asphyxiation or because the electricity and oxygen supply to the ICU was cut-off.
Ram retired as a gardener with the Delhi Development Authority, his relatives said.
DFS chief Atul Garg said they rushed nine fire tenders to the hospital, after receiving a call reporting the blaze around 5am.
“The fire broke out in the ICU on the third floor. The hospital building housed 18 patients. Except the elderly patient in the ICU who was on ventilator support, the other patients were safely rescued. The fire was doused and the patient taken out in an unconscious condition. He was dead. No fire fighting system was found in working condition. The emergency exit gates and staircase were locked and blocked,” said Garg.
He said the department handed the hospital an NOC nearly a yearand-half ago, after inspecting the firefighting system, which was operational at the time.