Are the Hospitals in India Fire-proof?

Introduction

Looking at the recent incidence involving the fire accident in Bhubaneswar hospital, we can safely surmise that the hospitals in our country are not fire-proof. It is not because of law paucity, but due to the callous attitude of the authorities who have to take steps to implement them. If the business houses have enough money to bribe the authorities, the culprits can easily walk free. Due to the business mind, the managements of the private hospitals do not have spare time to train the staff on the standard procedure that they need to follow during a fire accident. This is why we have a lot of fatalities and injuries when the fire accidents do happen in the hospital premises. In this article, we would be looking at the reasons for the frequent occurrence of fire accidents in Indian hospitals.

Causes of Fire Accidents in India

Most often the fire accidents seem to originate from the ages-old electric circuits in the hospitals. Normally, the managements have to get these electric circuits replaced every second or third year to make sure the safety of the inmates. However, this is not done or overlooked to save on money spent on repairing. Moreover, the authorities keep the inflammable materials packed inside the locked rooms. Since the hospitals have come up in the busy localities of the cities, they have been built as the vertical structures. Due to the lack of available space, the rooms are tightly packed with little or no ventilation. Such hospitals have the centralized air condition facility that asks for tightly closed doors. If the fire erupts, the smoke from them spreads in no time through the ducts before the people even become aware of them. If the accident occurred in a corner, the people have to rush through a designed route to reach outside. These hospitals do not have alternative fire-escape routes for people to come out of the fire-ravaged hospital. Though the authorities have rules to strictly carry out the fire-safety norms, the hospital managements do not always follow them.

Recent Fire Accident

The recent fire accident at the private hospital seemed to have started from the dialysis ward. The fire was so intense that the thick smoke emanating from it was making difficult for the fire fighting people to go near it. The thick smoke rendered these emergency people immobile and clueless while navigating through the corridors of the hospital. Moreover, the rooms compartmentalized to maximally use the available space. This also ensured the slow movement of people through the common pathway. Though the patients were ready for transport outside after removing the life-support systems from them, the staff could transport them outside only after a delay. So, many of them were brought dead in the nearby hospitals. This hospital had faulty smoke and fire management systems. Moreover, the employees at the casualty department were ill equipped to handle the fire accident when it did occur. The fire accident could have been averted had the management promptly repaired these systems.