BMC gives civic hospitals a week to be fire-safe

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had ordered immediate inspection of fire safety in its major and peripheral hospitals after 86 people lost their lives in Kolkatas AMRI hospital fire in December last year.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had ordered immediate inspection of fire safety in its major and peripheral hospitals after 86 people lost their lives in Kolkatas AMRI hospital fire in December last year. More than six months later,no such inspection has been done yet but the Mantralya inferno has alerted top civic officials. The civic body has now set a deadline of seven days for all civic run hospitals to be fire-safe. The order was issued to all heads of departments in the four major and 16 peripheral municipal hospitals.

KEM Hospital Dean Dr Sanjay Oak said a list of guidelines had been issued to all hospitals asking to check their internal fire fighting installations. We have also asked them to clear staircases and passage corners of all scrap items,check electrical connections and wiring and prohibit the use of multiple points from one electrical point,mark exits,and so on. Extra caution should be taken around the general ward area that is usually crowded, he said.

Meanwhile,municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte held a multi-agency meeting to discuss the various aspects and failures of fire-fighting and overall disaster management response. Calling it a failure at various levels, Kunte said the loss of five lives and many important files and data was a failure of the entire machinery. As many as 76 representatives from various agencies such as states relief and rehabilitation,Navy,fire brigade and Mumbai Police were present.

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Defending the response of the fire brigade,Kunte said it was untrue that they took a long time to respond. The fire brigade had reached the spot within five minutes of receiving the call. Though from the outside one could not see direct fire-fighting,three hose pipes had been started by 3 pm, said Kunte.

He added the BMC would issue guidelines to the public works department while the latter carries out restructuring of the gutted floors. We have asked them to make use of fire resistant panels and doors,fire resistant paint etc and avoid wooden panels while rebuilding, said Kunte.

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