Dec 6, 2024 04:20 IST
First published: December 6, 2024 at 04:20 IST
Hospitals are complex environments with vulnerable patients, hazardous materials and sensitive equipment. That is why the National Building Code devotes a detailed chapter to fire safety in hospitals. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has also laid down guidelines for fireproof medical centres. However, disaster after disaster has exposed the weak situation of health institutions in the country in terms of fire safety. From the 2011 fire at Kolkata’s AMRI hospital that killed more than 90 to the fire that killed 18 newborns at a hospital in Jhansi last month, investigations into fire incidents have virtually zeroed in on the same culprits — poorly designed safety exits, neglect. Follow protocols for electrical load audits, irrational use of oxygen and failure to store combustible materials. But, rarely do any lessons seem to be learned. More alarmingly, as this newspaper’s analysis shows, accountability for disasters has rarely been fixed. Since 2020, at least 11 major hospital fires have claimed more than 100 lives. In all but one of these cases, the hospital owners or heads are out on bail.
This magazine’s analysis shows Short circuits were the main cause of most outages. A growing body of scholarship on electricity planning for healthcare appears to be ignored by hospital administrators. For example, studies estimate that the electrical load of a healthcare operation increases by about 25 percent after its operation. This can be addressed by budgeting for a buffer in the initial power load. The NDMA guidelines also outline the need for periodic recalibration of electrical loads of healthcare facilities. However, hospital officials often cut corners. They also give short shrift to NDMA’s instructions for installing fire alarms and sprinklers.
Fire protection functions fall under municipalities, a level of governance whose weaknesses have increased in recent times. Inspections are weak and, at best, exercises once every few years. Local government agencies are not the only ones to blame. The Justice DA Mehta Committee, which probed the fires that broke out at two Gujarat hospitals during the Covid pandemic, concluded that the deaths could have been prevented if the authorities had not regularized the illegal structures. It called for a “serious reconsideration of the policy of regularizing unauthorized construction… particularly in the case of nursing homes and hospitals”. Unfortunately, such words of caution are often ignored.