Audit shows how two Ghaziabad hospitals are at risk of fire

GHAZIABAD: Two government hospitals in the city, the MMG Hospital and Combined Hospital in Sanjay Nagar, have been found to be wanting on 11 fire safety parameters as per the National Building Code (NBC) standards, revealed an audit by the Ghaziabad fire department.
The hospitals have, however, said due to lack of funds, they have been unable to put safety measures in place.
The 166-bed MMG Hospital building is more than 80 years old. It was declared unsafe by the PWD two years ago. Yet, the hospital is currently operating beyond capacity.
A hospital official said, “A report has been sent by PWD to the state government. There are indications that the government, at the most, will go for retrofitting and, to some extent, revamp the infrastructure. But demolishing the building and constructing afresh, as suggested by PWD, remains out of the question as of now.”
The official added that the hospital is at low risk because it has one floor with plenty of space around it. “The parameters on which the fire department found the hospital lacking hold true for multi-storey ones. Ours is just one storey which, compared to other hospitals, is at low risk as far as fire is concerned,” said the official.
The hospital is spread over 5,000 sqm. As per NBC standards, one fire extinguisher for every 100 sqm of covered area is required. However, on inspection it was found that there are only six fire extinguishers in the hospital and the efficacy of each was suspect.
On other parameters such as firehose, fire hydrant system, and manual and automatic fire alarm systems, the hospital was found lacking in all.
The 100-bed Combined Hospital, which is housed in a two-storey building, did not meet the safety requirements too, according to the audit done last week. But report said electric safety norms haven’t been followed and many of the fire extinguishers installed are non-functional.
Chief medical superintendent, Dr Naresh Vij, however, claimed the hospital is lacking on only a few parameters. “As per the norms, we should have an underground water reservoir with a capacity of 50,000 litres which we don’t have. The fire alarm system is functional only on the second floor too. But on other parameters, we are fine,” said Dr Vij.