Only a few hospitals have fire department nod

CHENNAI: No lessons seem to have been learnt by health care facilities here in the aftermath of the tragic fire accident that occurred in a hospital in Kolkata last Saturday. Most hospitals in the city — both government and private — lack even basic fire safety mechanisms, according to the Fire Safety Department.“While there are 40 to 50 multi-storey private specialty hospitals in Chennai, only 10 of them have a valid clearance from the Fire Safety Department,” says a senior official. “While clearances for one or two hospitals were rejected, most of the others have never approached us for a clearance, but have managed to complete their project and get necessary approvals from other departments,” added the official.According to fire safety rules, any multi-storey building that is taller than 15 meters or 50 feet) needs to get a No Objection Certificate from the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services department. The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) can issue planning permission only if such a certificate is made available by the owners. With the fire safety department making it clear that nearly 40 hospitals do not have an NOC, the question remains as to how the CMDA issued the planning permission. CMDA officials were not available for comment.The status of government health facilities in the city is no better. Rather, they are worse. After a minor fire at the ICU of Kilpauk Government Hospital in June, the TN Fire and Rescue Services (TNFRS) Department had given recommendations to improve fire safety at almost all government health facilities in the city. However, the measures are still caught in procedural delays.The Kilpauk Government Hospital is yet to complete its safety measures. The hospital, according to an official, has handed over the refurbishing works to the Public Works Department, which is yet to initiate action.“All government hospital buildings in the city except the Rajiv Gandhi Government Hospital are very old. Hence electrical systems at these hospitals are not used to handling heavy loads as it is done these days,” says the TNFRS official. Considering this, the Fire Safety Department has given a set of recommendations to all hospitals to improve the electrical systems by changing the wiring, tuning the medical appliances accordingly, and by installing fire control systems like the earth leakage limit breakers and miniature circuit breakers.“Upcoming private hospitals are taking up fire safety measures as the rules are strict. The concern is to install such measures at older hospitals and government facilities,” says Dr L P Thangavelu, President-Elect of Indian Medical Association, Tamil Nadu Chapter.The aftermath of the Kolkata tragedy has resulted in knee-jerk reactions in several parts of the country. Civic authorities of various cities like Hyderabad have issued directives to hospitals to implement fire safety measures within one month. Unless authorities here take similar measures, the present condition could potentially turn dangerous.