RTI reveals poor fire safety measures in hospitals
3 Jul, 2012
Information provided under the RTI Act has revealed that most Mumbai city hospitals lack severely in terms of their fire safety measures. Between December 2011 and May 2012, 67 hospitals were inspected by the fire department and the follow up report has shown that most of them have not complied with suggestions given to correct the deficiencies in their fire safety measures.
In case of the government hospitals (both central and state), it has been revealed that only two hospitals, Worli’s INS Ashvini and ESIS hospitals, out of 13 have implemented the suggested measures for fire safety. Out of 17 civic hospitals inspected, it has been revealed that only Ghatkopar’s Rajawadi and Muktabai hospitals fulfilled the fire safety measures.
In case of the Private hospital, it has come to light that 17 hospitals had not corrected minor deficiencies, while 16 had taken care of all the deficiencies pointed out by the fire department.
Calcutta had witnessed a major fire in a private nursing home in the recent past which attracted a lot of media attention. The state of affairs in Mumbai shows that the condition has changed very little since then. Are we waiting for more accidents to happen?