Gurgaon: The fire department has issued notices to 165 private hospitals in the city for not having adequate safety arrangements. A survey also revealed that the facilities also don’t have the mandatory fire safety no-objection certificates (NOCs), putting the lives of the patients visiting at risk.
“Many hospitals and clinics are running in residential areas without a proper licence or clearance from the authorities. We have issued notices to them and given them 15 days to comply with the rules, failing which we will either move court or seal their premises. We are planning to issue a public notice to private hospitals to renew their fire safety NOCs at the earliest,” the district’s assistant divisional fire officer I S Kashyap said.
As per the Fire Services Act, 2009, if a building owner has not procured an NOC after three show-cause notices, the structure can be sealed.
Over the past few years, many small hospitals and clinics in both residential and commercial areas have come up, most of them with a bed capacity between 10 and 50. In most of the cases, there is a single entry and exit points in the building and fire arrangements are also insufficient.
A fire official said these hospitals are located in places where it may not be possible to make changes. “During the survey, our team found that they cannot force the owner to open a second entry/exit. Changes are possible in standalone locations only and fire norms cannot be implemented without the support of the town and planning department and the municipal corporation,” he added, not wishing to be named.