Reporter's Diary: The dark hole of fire safety violations at hospitals

CHENNAI: Passing the buck may be an old saying but it’s still relevant when it comes to fire safety at government and private hospitals. After the fire accident at a government hospital in the city, the State Health Department officials have been taking all measures to ensure that hospitals are a safe space for patients.

The department also undertook a meeting with the hospital authorities and instructed them to comply with the fire safety measures and regulations.

However, when the violations on fire safety regulations by several hospitals in the city were pointed out, no department seems to have a complete regulatory role to initiate action against the violators.

While the fire safety and rescue department officials say that they only have a recommendatory role in such cases, where they can inspect hospitals and suggest changes to be made to comply with safety measures. However, if they fail to comply with the same, officials say that only the Directorate of Medical Services (DMS) can take a call.

On the other hand, officials at DMS claim that they can issue only warnings or even temporarily suspend the license of the hospital but cannot issue a fine/penalty, or completely shut down the facility. Violators cannot be questioned by either of the departments and suggestions are hardly considered by anyone.

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