Are city hospitals blaze-proof?
Fire fighting equipment in place but parts missing, no training ever held for staff
None of the hospitals, private or government, ever approached us for any training session in the past several years AB PANDEY, CFO, Lucknow
LUCKNOW: Hospitals in the city may be the ultimate refuge for those suffering from various ailments, but the fact remains that they themselves are afflicted with the malady of fire risks. This is because fire fighting is secondary in hospitals, posing a risk to the patients as well as the staff working here.
With the SUM hospital tragedy in Bhubaneshwar bringing the focus back on fire safety, a status check across hospitals here revealed fire fighting equipment was in place but parts such as hose pipe were missing and the location of such devices was not displayed publicly, so that in case of an incident one could immediately get hold of them.
Moreover, in a startling revelation, chief fire officer of Lucknow AB Pandey that none of the hospitals had any training for the staff to fight fire. “None of the hospitals, private or government, ever approached us for any training session in the past several years,” said Pandey, when asked how well trained was the hospital staff to douse a fire.
Ironically, none of the hospitals in the district has emergency floor fluorescent lighting strips to show t he way out in case of fire and smoke (as they are inside an air plane). Such strips are required as in case of dense smoke the small boards showing exits are not visible.
King George’s Medical University (KGMU) has equipment installed in all departments but not enough to fight a fire outbreak. There was a fire in the limb centre in the last week of March while recently, an air conditioner caught fire in the operating theatre in Queen Mary’s hospital.
The hospital wing of the medical university has several wards that are located on the first floor and admit serious patients but lack connectivity with a ramp. In case of a fire, it could be difficult to shift all such serious patients immediately.
The university administration has now asked the maintenance department to check each risky point. “The concerned department has been directed to check equipment installed in all OTs, ICUs, OPDs and also check each vulnerable point and go ahead with repair/replacement of equipment if found defunct,” said Dr Ved Prakash, medical superintendent KGMU.
“Equipment for fire-fighting is in place at all locations as per requirements. Instructions have been given to take necessary action immediately in case repair or replacement is required,” he said.
In March, at least 10 neonates had a narrow escape when fire broke out at Jhalkaribai Hospital. As the fire could not be doused immediately, the babies were shifted swiftly to KGMU and other hospitals. The situation has not improved much here apart from the newly installed fire extinguishers.
“Fire-figh ting is monitored and equipment upgraded centrally by the health directorate,” said Dr Ashutosh Dubey, medical superintendent of Civil Hospital.
At the Dufferin (women’s) hospital, the approach road is so narrow that in case of fire only the equipment installed can be depended upon. The adjacent Balrampur Hospital has recently spent about `80 lakh to upgrade its fire fighting system.