MUMBAI: The fire at Sunrise Hospital housed in Bhandup’s Dreams Mall is the second fire at a Covid-19 hospital in the Bhandup-Mulund belt in six months.
In October last year, 2 patients had died while shifting after a fire broke out at Mulund’s Apex Hospital due to a short circuit in the generator at the hospital.
After the blaze, the BMC had set up a four-member committee to probe the incident and the subsequent shifting of Covid-19 patients to another hospital.
After the blaze in Apex Hospital, 40 patients were shifted to different hospitals nearby, during which, one critical patient died on the way, while another patient who was shifted to Fortis Hospital died the next day.
Later the civic panel that probed the Apex Hospital fire incident, stated that prima facie, there was no negligence on the hospital’s part. The panel concluded that the hospital had followed protocol possible at the time of transferring patients.
However, the BMC had since not allowed Apex Hospital to admit Covid-19 patients. The BMC probe committee included the assistant commissioner of T ward, a medical officer, the dean of Mulund Jumbo facility and an official from the civic body’s mechanical and engineering department.
The probe panel had found that Apex Hospital had bought an old generator for use during power failure. The generator had worked for over seven hours before it got overheated and caught fire, the panel had noted.
BJP MLA from Mulund Mihir Kotecha said that the BMC had failed to carry out any fire audits of hospitals and nursing homes before they were allowed to admit Covid-19 patients. “Almost all such hospitals have fire related issues and they are not 100% fire compliant. Sunrise Hospital was given permission to admit Covid-19 patients recently. There must be a detailed fire audit of all Covid-19 hospitals,” Kotecha said.