Ludhiana Civil Hospital runs without mandatory fire safety certificate

Manav Mander

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, November 15

Life of hundreds of patients is at risk at the Ludhiana Civil Hospital, which is allegedly running without the mandatory fire safety certificate.

Despite being one of the Covid care centres when the cases hit a peak and still conducting Covid tests and vaccinating people, the hospital has failed to get a no-objection certificate.

A Fire Department official said the hospital had not applied for the certificate. “Earlier, hospital authorities had to apply for it manually, but now it is available online. The authorities have been told to apply for it online, but they have failed to do so. The procedure of issuing a certificate and other formalities will be done only after we get a request application from the hospital. The certificate, which is renewed every year, is pending since 2020,” he said.

Senior Medical Officer Dr Amarjeet Kaur said the Fire Department’s NOC was pending as some work related to firefighting, which had to be taken care of by Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC), was yet to be completed.

According to information, a central team visited the hospital in January 2020 and had asked the hospital management to make a few changes in accordance with the National Building Code (NBC), 2016, and PHSC was supposed to make the necessary changes, but the work remains pending.

PHSC Sub-Divisional Officer Gurpinder Singh said they had completed the work and wrote to the Municipal Corporation to check the system by visiting the hospital. “The system was completed according to the NBC, but some formalities are pending. Underground fire tank of 1 lakh litre capacity has been built, but some pipes have been stolen from the hospital,” he said.

Sanjay Goel, one of the directors of Ludhiana Smart City said it was a serious issue. “The hospital authorities should get the NOC from the Fire Department at the earliest as the life of hundreds of people is at risk. Ludhiana is an upcoming smart city and if its Civil Hospital is in such a state, what else can we expect from other public places/offices,” he added.

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