New Delhi: More than 50% of hospitals and nursing homes in Mumbai do not meet requisite fire safety norms, putting the lives of patients and medical staff at risk, Hindustan Times reports.
The fire audit carried out by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has revealed that as many as 701 hospitals, nursing homes and maternity homes among 1,324 facilities inspected do not comply with the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act, 2006. Among them are 38 hospitals operated by the state government and BMC.
The details were disclosed by state urban development minister, Eknath Shinde, on Tuesday in the state assembly in a written reply, adding that notices have been served to the hospital managements to check for lapses and to comply with the fire safety norms.
The lapses are largely related to lack of adequate fire hydrants, fire sprinklers, smoke alarms and fire extinguishers that have not been filled up regularly, reports Free Press Journal.
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The audit was ordered by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray following the Bhandara fire which broke out at a hospital government on January 9 killing 10 infants. The state government was severely criticised after the incident, and the information gathered in response to a Right to Information (RTI) application also indicated that several hospitals lacked fire safety mechanisms in place.
Even Shiv Sena legislator Sanjay Potnis among others appealed to the state government to carry out checks across Mumbai and quoted from an earlier compliance drive by the BMC that several hospitals flouted the fire safety norms.
Taking cognisance of the issue in the aftermath of the Bhandara fire, Thackeray directed officials concerned to carry out a thorough investigation to explain why infants could not be saved at the time of the fire. He also ordered fire and structural audits of all the government hospitals across the state.