Jalandhar hospital fire safety system in a shambles

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, November 15

The fire fighting system at the state’s biggest civil hospital in Jalandhar seems to be is in a shambles.

Fire department’s recommendations

• Update fire fighting system as per the current National Building Code guidelines
• Install sprinklers in emergency and sensitive units
• Ensure maintenance of firefighting equipment

Request sent

A request has been sent to the Punjab Health Systems Corporation Director regarding repair of the equipment and requirement of trained fire officers. Dr Perminder Singh, nodal officer for fire safety, Civil Hospital

Days after 15 persons were killed in four days in fire at two hospitals — in Ahmednagar and Bhopal — a team of The Tribune visited the Jalandhar hospital to check the ground situation in the state.

Sources say the hospital sees at least 1,000 patients a day. Several shortcomings were pointed out in the fire safety equipment at the hospital when it had applied for a No Objection Certificate (NOC) earlier this year. The certificate was given following an assurance to the Fire Department that the shortcomings would be fixed within a month. However, it has been three months since the NOC has been obtained, but the obsolete fire safety system still exists.

The firefighting mechanism at the hospital was established way before the 2016 National Building Code guidelines were issued and hasn’t been updated.

A visit to the hospital revealed that some fire hydrants had no pipes or hoses, some were covered with dust, some were blocked by an almirah (in the emergency) and some were in a state of disrepair. The fire hydrants in wards double up as broom cupboards. Eight years ago, a fire at the hospital saw a dearth of trained fire personnel. Some vigilant employees brought out the fire safety hoses to douse the flames, but none worked.

Assistant Divisional Fire Officer Jaswant Singh said: “Various shortcomings and the need for the maintenance of hydrant systems at the hospital were pointed out when the NOC was issued this year. It was issued on the condition that the needful will be done within a month. But the issues haven’t been redressed yet.”

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