Round 5 years in the past, a Delhi authorities committee headed by then Well being Minister Satyendar Jain had drafted a set of pointers to convey small hospitals and nursing properties underneath the umbrella of fireside security rules. But, as is clear from Sunday’s incident of fire at a Delhi neonatal care facility, the rules had been by no means carried out, and remained on paper.
Six newborns, aged between in the future and 25 days, died within the fireplace that broke out at Child Care New Born Hospital in East Delhi’s Vivek Vihar.
In 2018, the Director Basic of Well being Companies (DGHS), underneath the Delhi authorities’s Well being Division, had mandated that every one hospitals which can be over two storeys excessive — or over 9 metres in peak — require a hearth security clearance as per the Delhi Fireplace Division’s current norms. These norms required all industrial buildings, together with hospitals, to have a 6-metre-wide entry street for fireplace tenders, and a pair of.4-meter-wide corridors and 2-metre-wide staircases inside the premises. In addition they mandated an underground 75,000-litre water storage tank within the constructing to cope with fireplace emergencies.
Nonetheless, the foundations had been too stringent for smaller hospitals and nursing properties that had been over 9 9 metres excessive — and therefore fell underneath the ambit of the DGHS norms — however lots of which ran out of residential areas, the place it will have been unfeasible to hold out the structural adjustments required to implement these norms.
Unable to adjust to the norms, practically 600 small hospitals and nursing properties within the metropolis approached the state Well being Division for an answer after the 2019 Arpit Lodge fireplace in Delhi’s Karol Bagh, the place 17 folks had been killed.
A committee chaired by minister Jain then formulated a distinct set of norms that could possibly be carried out by smaller hospitals and nursing properties working in residential areas. The proposed norms required these hospitals to have sprinklers and computerized fireplace alarms, amongst different necessities, however did away with the situation of large staircases and corridors.
Contained in the Child Care New Born Hospital in East Delhi’s Vivek Vihar on Sunday. (Categorical picture by Abhinav Saha)
Nonetheless, these norms by no means noticed the sunshine of the day.
The Indian Express reached out to the Delhi authorities to ask why the fireplace security norms for hospitals on mixed-use land (in residential areas) weren’t carried out, however obtained no response.
On Monday, Delhi Well being Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj stated the East Delhi hospital didn’t have a NOC from the Fireplace Division because the present norms stipulate that hospitals lower than 9 metres excessive don’t want such a clearance.
The East Delhi hospital solely had two flooring – floor plus first ground.
Tags for infants on the hospital web site. (Categorical picture by Abhinav Saha)
“Given this incident, we’ve got given directions that every one hospitals, whether or not single-storey or double-storey, will need to have all security preparations to cope with fireplace of their hospitals. It will likely be ensured that water sprinkler techniques and computerized smoke detectors are put in in all hospitals…”
A health care provider who owns a nursing dwelling within the metropolis stated on situation of anonymity, “There ought to be pointers in place even for hospitals such because the one in East Delhi simply in order that they’ve a guidelines they’ll adhere to even when they don’t want an NOC. There may most likely be mechanisms for third-party audit if there have been such pointers.”
Dr Girish Tyagi, president of the Delhi Medical Affiliation, informed The Indian Categorical, “The norms proposed (by the committee underneath Jain) had been meant for hospitals on mixed-use land — basically those working in residential areas or semi-residential areas – that can’t modify their buildings a lot. If these had been carried out, most of those small hospitals would have needed to observe some security pointers that would have doubtlessly diminished fireplace accidents.”
Policemen on the youngsters’s hospital the place a hearth broke out on Saturday night time in New Delhi’s Vivek Vihar space. (Photograph: PTI)
One other physician who, too, owns a nursing dwelling within the metropolis stated on situation of anonymity, “To adjust to the prevailing norms — and to get registration with DGHS — many hospitals have resorted to working solely out of their floor and first flooring. A Delhi Medical Affiliation estimate means that there was a lack of 20,000 beds throughout the town as a consequence of this. Solely large company hospitals can observe these stringent (DGHS) norms. Therefore there’s a want for brand spanking new norms for smaller hospitals which have been working for years.”
The matter of fireside security in hospitals had come underneath the scanner in 2020, when the Supreme Courtroom directed all states to conduct a hearth security audit within the backdrop of a hearth that broke out in a Rajkot hospital. After this, a number of Delhi hospitals had been directed by the DGHS to close down operations on their second and third flooring as they didn’t have the required fireplace security clearances. Whereas the hospitals weren’t instantly shut down, owing to the requirement for beds through the pandemic, the renewals for these hospitals had been subsequently placed on maintain.
The Nursing House Discussion board, underneath the Delhi Medical Affiliation, had approached the Delhi Excessive Courtroom over the DGHS notices that had been issued through the pandemic. Of their plea, they argued that most of the buildings that housed the nursing properties had been constructed earlier than the stringent fireplace security norms had been issued and that they need to be given some respite. The case is being heard within the Excessive Courtroom.
“We need to observe all of the norms. Nonetheless, we’ve got urged the courtroom to provide respite to hospitals which can be unable to make structural adjustments to adjust to a few of the situations,” stated Dr. Rakesh Gupta, former DMA president.
A supply stated the smaller hospitals have urged the courtroom that the requirement for fireplace clearance be eased to permit buildings as much as the peak of 9.5 metres (or floor plus two flooring) to function with out the necessity of fireside clearance, as an alternative of the present floor plus first ground.