Govt hospitals not following fire norms, no fresh audit: NMC fire dept

Nagpur: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s fire and emergency services department has refused to conduct a fresh fire safety audit of Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) and Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital (IGGMCH). Instead, it has asked the public works department to consider earlier fire safety inspection reports.
The fire department has said it had conducted fire audits of both the hospitals in 2013 and 2016 and firefighting measures were already suggested to the state PWD.Now, we cannot do the inspection again, said a senior official from the department.
Sources said fire fighting arrangements are compulsory for all government and private buildings. “But all city-based government hospitals openly violate the orders. Hundreds of patients from far flung areas come to these two government hospitals every day and the absence of any firefighting equipment poses a severe threat to their lives,” sources from the fire department said.
The fire department had been issuing instructions to all the government institutions to install mandatory firefighting equipment but in vain, sources said.
In GMCH’s G+2 storey building, the fire department even in 2016 had suggested a slew of measures pertaining to firefighting arrangements and they included one internal staircase of width two to 10m should be provided. Staircase, corridor, exit way, escape route should be kept free from any obstruction. The fire department has also recommended separate fire lift provision in the hospital as per the national building code.
The fire department had also instructed to carry out periodic inspection of fire fighting systems in the GMCH.
Similar provisions had been recommended to the IGGMCH. Here, 43 buildings of the hospital have already been declared unsafe by the fire department after the state’s public department failed to take preventive measures.
“Whenever there is a fire in any hospitals anywhere in the country, the fire department issues letters to all hospitals reminding them to comply with firefighting measures at the earliest,” said the officer.
Officials from both the government hospitals told TOI that they have already approached the state’s public works department in this regard. “But we never get any support from the department,” they said.
Despite repeated attempts, PWD’s superintending engineer Vidyadhar Sardeshmukh was not available for comments.
The senior official further said that following instructions from the collector officer, the fire department has visited both the hospitals and instructed the state’s PWD to comply with the earlier firefighting safety measures suggested by the department.
Meanwhile, commissioner of police Amitesh Kumar has deputed deputy commissioner of police Vivek Masal as a nodal officer to coordinate between NMC’s fire department and city police to resolve FIRs registered against different property owners for flouting fire safety norms.
Around 85 FIRs have been registered by the fire department against various institutions for failing to comply with fire safety norms despite repeated reminders.