Srinagar: Amid rise in mysterious fire incidents in restive Kashmir, the state government has been caught napping over the safety of hospitals in the Valley even as most such healthcare facilities are ill- equipped.
Official sources said for the last atleast five years, successive regimes failed to implement recommendations made by the Fire and Emergency Department (FESD) with regard to safety standards at the hospitals in Kashmir.
Officials said this way, majority of government run hospitals, including Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences(SKIMS), SHMS, the Bones and Joint Hospital and even the GB Panth hospital for children are vulnerable to major causalities in case of fire.
With this being the scene of fire safety at major hospitals in the summer capital, the plight elsewhere in other districts can only be imagined.
In 2011, following a deadly fire incident at a hospital in Kolkatta, the then Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah had sought a safety audit of hospitals in the Valley.
Subsequently FESD swung to action and inspected various hospitals.
The safety audit of Kashmir’s sole super-specialty the SKIMS Soura gave an alarming picture. Official documents reveal that the FESD expressing “serious lapses” made several recommendations to beef-up preparedness.
In a letter vide number JKF RV 6609-10 dated November 11, 2011 the FESD said, “Although fire extinguishers were found to be installed in various sections of the hospital, these were found to be ill-maintained.”
Even the emergency exits were not found operational. “Although the hospital has fire exits, it was found that these are kept locked at many places and the fire exit stairs are used as stores for old and discarded furniture and equipment,” the audit report said.
While this hospital falls directly under the purview of Chief Minister, the scene looks worse at other hospitals falling under the ministry of Health and Medical Education.
At Kashmir’s main general line hospital, the SMHS Hospital, medicos said there are no proper emergency exits operational nor there’s any adequate in-house firefighting mechanism in place.
Officials said the FESD shot several letters to the Principal Government Medical College seeking bracing up of firefighting mechanism at its associated hospitals including SMHS Hospital, the B&J Hospital and the GB Panth Hospital.
“But till now frankly speaking not much has been done on the ground,” said a senior medico working at B&J Hospital, Kashmir’s sole orthopedic hospital.
Officials said the fire safety at the private hospitals and nursing homes is equally questionable and that the FESD had apprised the government about the same. “We have done our job, now its for government to implement our recommendations,” said a senior official in the FESD.
Sources said in the wake of recent rise in mysterious fire incidents, wherein mainly schools and shops in the Valley were reduced to cinder, some medicos had raised the issue of safety at the hospitals.
“We wanted to pick up the matter with the Divisional administration but we are asked to keep quite,” said a delegation of doctors working at the SMHS Hospital.
A senior official in the health department said it was a policy matter and that Divisional Commissioner Kashmir should review the preparedness on this front.
“This preparedness cannot to brought by the hospitals at their individual level. It needs to be a collective decision by a high level committee headed by the Divisional Commissioner or the Chief Secretary,” the officials said.
Despite repeated attempts, Divisional Commissioner Baseer Ahmed Khan didn’t respond to phone calls.
Last month, 22 persons were charred to death in a fire at hospital in Bhubaneshwar.
The last time JK government woke up to review fire safety in hospitals was in response to December 2011 blaze at hospital in Kolkatta when 89 persons were killed. But the audit failed to bring in requisite change.
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