Delhi Hospital Fire Sparks Outcry: Safety Lapses And Illegal Oxygen Filling Alleged, Govt Orders Fire Audit Of All Health Facilities
Five of the oxygen cylinders had exploded during the deadly blaze on Saturday night in which six newborns were killed and five injured.
New Delhi: In the wake of the Vivek Vihar hospital fire tragedy, the Delhi government has directed all state-run and private health facilities to conduct a fire audit, even as several safety lapses have come to light at the five-bed neonatal centre with police also investigating why 27 oxygen cylinders were kept there.
Five of the oxygen cylinders had exploded during the deadly blaze on Saturday night in which six newborns were killed and five injured. Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Monday said it had been learnt that oxygen refilling was being carried out at the hospital and stressed that it is illegal for a hospital to have a refilling system since it can lead to fire.
A delegation of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), which visited the site on Sunday and spoke to officials and family members of the victims, said in its findings that emergency exits were absent in the hospital building, fire extinguishers were non-functional and there was a lack of operational fire alarms and water sprinkler systems.
The commission noted that the lapses constituted a grave contravention of the National Building Code of India, 2016, and guidelines from the National Disaster Management Authority.
The commission's findings, which were shared with the Delhi LG and Police Commissioner, highlighted a troubling lack of preparedness and safety compliance at the nursing home, it said. On Monday, a city court allowed the Delhi Police’s plea seeking three days of custodial interrogation of the owner and an on-duty doctor of the private hospital.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vidhi Gupta Anand sent Dr Naveen Khichi, the hospital's owner, and Dr Aaksh to a three-day police custody. The bodies of six newborns, aged between one day and 20 days, were handed over to their families after post-mortem examination, police said on Monday.
Initially, police had said seven newborns were killed in the blaze but after the autopsy, it was found that one of the babies had died hours before the fire broke out. The police said they would verify the educational degrees of the accused and the documents regarding the registration of the hospital.
Several residents have alleged that the work of refilling oxygen from big to small cylinders was being carried out in the hospital. However, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdra) Surendra Choudhary said they have not found any clues so far to corroborate the claims.
At the same time, he said the police are trying to ascertain why 27 oxygen cylinders were stored in the five-bed hospital. The exact cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. According to an FIR, there were a total of 27 oxygen cylinders found lying inside and outside the premises of the hospital building when the police officials inspected the spot following the incident.
Five of them had burst. Police said that the private neonatal hospital was operating despite the expiry of its licence on March 31. It also did not have qualified doctors and no clearance from the fire department. The FIR stated that the police received the call at 11.29 pm and when they reached the spot, they found a two-storey hospital was under the fire.
With the help of fire brigades and ambulances of CATS and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Seva Dal (an NGO), 12 newborns were rescued from the back side of the building and were taken to the hospital. Out of them, four male and three female babies were declared brought dead.
Two other male and three female babies were admitted to the hospital for treatment, the FIR said. As firefighters toiled to douse a massive fire at the private neonatal hospital, many parents whose newborns were admitted to the facility had no clue what was going on.
Madhuraj Kumar, a painter, whose eight-day-old son was among the fortunate survivors, found out about the fire when he saw the charred hospital building on his way to work on Sunday morning. Similarly, no one from the hospital reached out to Deepak Gautam, whose six-day-old daughter was admitted there.
His sister informed him about the fire after she saw it on the news. Families of Madhuraj Kumar, Gautam and others accuse the hospital of negligence but are glad that their children survived. My son was born eight days ago and was shifted to the baby care unit for observation since he was a premature child.
He was doing fine and doctors had said he would be discharged on Sunday, Kumar said. Meanwhile, the Delhi government issued directions to all private and state-run hospitals to complete a fire audit and submit a compliance report by June 8, Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said.
Bharadwaj said the owner of the hospital in east Delhi's Vivek Vihar area was also running another nursing home illegally at Paschimpuri and a case was registered against him.
He had called for a meeting to discuss the fire incident at the medical centre. Bharadwaj said it had been learnt that oxygen refilling was being carried out at the hospital, and added that it would be looked into whether the facility was doing it on its own or some other agency was involved.
He stressed that it is illegal for a hospital to have a refilling system since it can lead to fire. The Delhi BJP on Monday alleged that Bharadwaj's OSD had a suspicious role in the illegal running of the children's hospital.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva in a statement alleged that the health department during an inspection in 2021 found the children's hospital capable of admitting five newborns only but the officer on special duty (OSD) of the health minister on an application of the hospital owner tried to approve its capacity to 10 admissions.
Bharadwaj said that nobody will be spared if found guilty. He claimed that Sachdeva was lying and the hospital was given permission only for five beds. According to official data, fire incidents have taken 55 lives and injured more than 300 people in the national capital so far this year.
The data by Delhi Fire Services (DFS) states that 16 people were killed in fire incidents in January, another 16 in February, 12 in March, four in April, and seven till May 26.
Fire incidents led to 51 injuries in January, 42 in February, 62 in March, 78 in April, and 71 till May 26. From January 1 to May 26, the DFS received 8,912 fire-related calls.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
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