City hospitals ill-equipped to deal with fire mishaps

Manmeet Singh Gill
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, January 14

The government hospitals in the city are ill-equipped to deal with fire emergencies. Most of the firefighting equipment are outdated and defunct. In the absence of maintenance and repair, the firefighting equipment have been rendered useless.

A visit to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) and Dr Vidya Sagar Institute of Mental Health revealed that hoses were missing from their designated boxes. The boxes are not only empty, but also getting rusted away.

Even the alarm glass, which is required to be broken to raise the fire alarm, is lying broken at the Government Medical College. Barring the emergency block and a few newly constructed blocks, the fire extinguishers are missing. Even if these are available at a few places, the pressure indicators on them suggest low pressure.

The hospitals with labs and other facilities where a large number of chemicals and gases are stored for medical use, a minor fire accident can turn into a major tragedy due to the presence of highly combustible substances.

In the absence of water pipes, fire tenders cannot refill their tanks. The will have to move to other places for refill. “Besides making available the necessary equipment, every employee of the hospital should be imparted training to use the fire extinguisher. Fire safety drills must be a regular exercise,” said a doctor at the GMC Hospital.

Dr Savinder Singh, in charge Dr Vidya Sagar Institute of Mental Health, said, “We are hopeful of a revamp of the fire safety system as MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla, during his recent visit, assured us of help. The firefighting equipment were installed decades ago. It will be replaced soon.”