Fire safety at hospitals: Panel to draft guidelines by end of month
The recent fire at the ESIC hospital in Mumbai has brought the spotlight on the expert committee that is all set to meet at the end of the month. The committee, which the Madras High Court had constituted to look into the fire safety arrangements at hospitals across the State, has stakeholders from across departments, regulators, and the petitioner who had moved the court.
By : migrator
Update: 2018-12-20 02:14 GMT
Chennai
Jawahar Shanmugam, a member of the expert committee and the petitioner who took up the issue of lack for fire safety measures in hospitals, said the fire accident at Mumbai hospital has called for an urgent look into the issue concerning hospitals in the State.
“The components like ramps and setback space play a huge role during evacuation when a fire breaks out. I have made 28 recommendations. The expert committee will come up with a set of recommendations that can be presented to the court,” he said.
According to him, while there were violations, the question now is about the remedial measures that can set them right. “Some of them include crowded basements where you have kitchens, stores and even generators. They should be used only as parking space according to rules. The building norms prescribed by the National Building Code of India has been widely flouted,” he added.
However, Shanmugam added that the State, which has a robust health sector with nearly 4,000 hospitals, has taken serious steps to ensure that the institutions adhered to the rules, keeping in mind the safety of patients. “Even two storied hospital buildings have installed a fire fighting mechanism after I took up the issue,” he said.
The State Health Department is the other crucial party in the committee.
Health SecretaryJ Radhakrishnan said, “We are all concerned, more so after the accident in Mumbai. We don’t want it to repeat. The meeting will be positively held by end of this month,” he said.
After the petition came up before it, the first bench of the High Court had paid close attention to the matter, seeking details, including status reports on evacuation of patients during fire accident, ramps for this purpose and other issues surrounding fire safety.
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