MiD DAY visited prominent hospitals to inspect the readiness, and discovered that most of them were following guidelines specified by the civic body

In the wake of a major fire that killed more than 73 people, mostly patients, at Advanced Medical Research Institute (AMRI), a 161-bed private hospital in Kolkata, MiD DAY visited major hospitals in the city to gauge their preparedness in the event of a blaze on their premises.u00a0

u00a0According to initial reports, the fire at AMRI started in the basement of the hospital where hazardous materials were being stored.

According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) norms, hospital should follow the fire safety norms as prescribed for any commercial building. Apart from fire fighting equipment, hospitals should have a suffice number of fire extinguishers, smoke detectors depending on the size and capacity of beds in the hospital and sprinklers installed. The hospital should also have two water tanks on its premisesu00a0-- one on the roof and one in the basement. Besides having two stairways, an open space, enough for two fire brigades to come and go, is required.

BMC's Chief Fire Officer, Mujawar Hassan, said, "Last year we visited various hospitals in the city and had served notices to a few of them who did not comply to our fire and safety norms. Most of them obliged to our notice and 90 per cent of the hospitals are now found following the fire safety norms."

Mayor Shraddha Jadhav said, "It's an unfortunate incident and this should be a learning lesson to all hospitals. I am writing a letter to the civic chief asking him to provide security guards basic fire fighting training at all BMC hospitals until the fire brigade arrives. In case of a fire in a hospital, evacuating patients is most important as they are already ill."

Acting in response to the Kolkata hospital fire, hospital authorities, both private and civic, in Mumbai are on a war footing. They were busy trying to get their fire safety equipment in place.

Bhatia hospital, Tardeo
This hospital had just two fire extinguishersu00a0-- placed on the ground floor and one in the basement. The hospital's basement houses cabins of the administrative staff with a single stairway leading to them. There is no fire exit in the basement region. There were no sprinklers or smoke detectors in the hospital. The hospital had two separate stairways. Being one of the oldest hospitals in the city it enjoys a full-bed capacity at any given time. Situated on the main road, the hospital has a small compound that is brimming with parked cars at any given time.



When contacted, Dr P D Potdar, medical superintendent of the hospital, said, "Today we conducted a meeting and we are soon going to appoint an agency that will work out fire safety needs of our hospital. Ours is an old hospital and we are upgrading from the conventional equipment."

KEM hospital, Parel



Civic-run KEM Hospital is one of the busiest hospitals in the city, with a bed capacity of 1,300. The new building on its premises has only one staircase in contrast to the fire safety norm that requires two separate stairways. Though fire extinguishers are visible, sprinklers and smoke detectors are not detectable
in the corridors of the hospital.