Government in fire-fighting mode

BHUBANESWAR: Waking up to the catastrophic AMRI hospital disaster in West Bengal, the State Government on Monday put all the hospitals, both private and Government, on notice. An extensive inspection of all the medical facilities in the State would be carried out in association with the Fire Services wing to assess the fire-fighting capabilities and disaster prevention mechanisms. The hospitals would have to address the shortcomings within a time-frame. “There is an urgent need to make all the hospitals safe against emergencies as fire outbreaks. The hospitals must be in perpetual readiness to prevent loss of even a single life due to causes such as fire,” Health Secretary Anu Garg said. The Health Secretary on Monday held a high-level meeting with hospital administrators, Fire Services officials and issued instructions to the district collectors and CDMOs to review the prevention and disaster preparedness in Government hospitals. The Director of Medical Education and Training (DMET) will monitor the private hospitals.  With big-ticket private hospital chains coming in large numbers in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack as well as domestic health entrepreneurship developing in a major way, the necessity to regulate them on all aspects has become imperative. All the private hospitals would be subjected to safety audit and instructed to integrate adequate safety mechanisms into their system immediately, DMET Prof PK Dash said. Executive Engineers, General Electrical Division (GED), of all districts have been asked to conduct a thorough examination of all the electrical connections in the three medicals, DHHs, PHCs and CHCs immediately and take necessary corrective measures within a week. Preventive maintenance of all electrical installations should be carried out on a priority basis twice a year. Fire Services officials will review the status of fire-fighting capabilities, equipment and their functionality. They will suggest additional requirements which would be purchased at the hospital level either through the Users Funds, Rogi Kalyan Samiti or any such funds available with the district collector, including Red Cross and Periphery Development Fund. The focus will be on Special Newborn Care Units (SNCUs) for fire safety and preventive measures given the experience of the Patiala incident where several neonates died in incubators that caught fire in a neonatal unit.  Sensitisation and training of doctors, nurses and paramedics would be undertaken immediately in maintenance and handling of basic fire-fighting equipment during emergency. Regular drills would be held to keep the health personnel in readiness. Superintendents of the medicals, ADMO(medical) of DHHs and medical officers of the Government hospitals would be responsible for taking all preventive steps against fire hazards. The collectors and CDMOs along with the hospital authorities have been instructed to submit compliance reports by December 20, the Health Secretary said.