‘Delhi govt asks private, state-run hospitals to submit fire audit report’

New Delhi: In the aftermath of a blaze at a neonatal hospital that killed six newborns, the Delhi government has 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 on Monday.

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.

Initially, police had said seven newborns were killed in the blaze but after the autopsy, it has been found that one of the babies had died hours before the fire broke out.

Bharadwaj said it has 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.

“On April 24, we had issued directions to all hospitals for fire preparedness. On May 8, we asked them to conduct a fire audit. Now, we have asked all private and Delhi government-run hospitals to complete a fire audit and submit a compliance report by June 8 to the health department,” he told reporters.

The hospitals have also been asked to conduct an audit of the electrical system.

“In summer, the power load increases that can lead to short circuit. We have also asked hospitals to carry out an audit of their electrical system to ensure that it can withstand the load,” Bharadwaj added.

The minister said they have also asked all chief district medical officers (CDMOs) to conduct random inspection of nursing homes and hospitals in their districts.

Talking about the Vivek Vihar hospital, he said that the hospital was functioning “illegally” with 12 beds as against five beds it had permission for.

“It has been alleged that oxygen refilling was carried out at the hospital in violation of the norms and that will be looked into. The hospital’s registration certificate was valid till March 31 and they had applied for renewal. It was issued a deficiency memo as some documents were missing,” he added.

Bharadwaj said that a surprise inspection was carried out at the medical facility and some deficiencies were found, following which a case was also registered.

“The owner was also running another nursing home illegally at Paschimpuri and a case was registered against him. Both the cases are in trial. One is ongoing at Tis Hazari court and another at Karkardooma court. We hope that verdict will come in both cases soon,” he said.