Maharashtra: Among 484 medical services audited, 90% don’t have NOC from fireplace dept

In an evaluation carried out throughout 484 authorities hospitals and different medical services in Maharashtra after a fireplace in Bhandara district common hospital killed 10 newborns, officers have discovered that apart from a small handful, none of those services possess a no objection certificates (NOC) from the fireplace division.
More than 80 per cent had by no means been by a fireplace security audit and fewer than half had performed a mock fireplace drill previously.
In the final 5 years, Maharashtra has recorded 17 fireplace mishaps in authorities hospitals throughout 11 districts. This consists of the most recent incident within the sick new child care unit of the Bhandara hospital on January 9, when 10 newborns – the oldest only a month previous – died because of burn accidents and smoke inhalation.
The ongoing evaluation, from which knowledge for 484 rural hospitals, major well being centres (PHCs), district and sub-district hospitals from 34 of the 36 districts is accessible at current, has revealed a bypassing of fireside security norms by most and the absence
of coordination between public well being division, public works division (PWD), Nagar Parishads and municipal companies in making certain that the norms are complied with.
Only 88 services had performed a fireplace security audit, and solely a naked 45 have an NOC from the fireplace division. A mock fireplace drill has been carried out at 218 a minimum of as soon as.
N Ramaswamy, Director of National Health Mission, stated, “Several hospitals are decades old and were handed over by the PWD to us without obtaining NOC for fire safety. Soon, we will issue a circular to all districts to ensure that a hospital starts functioning only after required permissions are in place. A contract will be drawn up with PWD, in which we will clearly mention who is responsible for fire audit, NOC and other permissions.”
In Pune, of the 26 authorities hospitals assessed, solely 4 have performed a fireplace security audit, and none have an NOC from the fireplace division. In Thane, of the 13 hospitals, seven have carried out a fireplace audit and two have an NOC. Data from Mumbai is just not obtainable.
Some districts have proven a really poor fireplace security protocol for all their authorities hospitals. Nandurbar, Dhule, Satara, Jalgaon and Sindhudurg have neither carried out a single fireplace audit nor do they possess an NOC from the fireplace division for any of their hospitals assessed until now.
In Nandurbar, evaluation was sought from 15 PHCs and hospitals, 9 hospitals in Dhule, 24 every in Satara and Jalgaon and 11 in Sindhudurg.
In Nandurbar, District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Nitin Borke stated whereas PHCs had fireplace extinguishers, no coaching has been imparted to the workers on fireplace preventing. “After the fire incident in Bhandara, I issued a letter to all PHCs to conduct fire audits,” he added. The letter was issued on January 11, two days after the Bhandara hospital mishap.
In Chandrapur, DHO Dr Raj Gehlot performed a mock drill on January 11 to take a look at preparedness in PHCs. “We have also asked for audit on requirement for fire safety equipment. Soon, a proposal will be submitted for approval,” Gehlot stated.

In Dhule, the place not one of the 9 hospitals have undergone a fireplace audit and shouldn’t have fireplace NOC, civil surgeon Manik Sangale stated, “We have now started the process of audit and to apply for NOC. These are all very old buildings, and we could only fit extinguishers.”
While knowledge from 484 hospitals confirmed that 5,137 fireplace extinguishers have been procured, there was no knowledge on what number of are practical or what number of hospitals held coaching workouts for its staffers.
“We have no guidelines on how regularly a fire audit must be undertaken. We are now proposing that a fire audit or at least mock drill should be a regular exercise,”