Deny ‘Covid hospital’ status without fire safety compliance: Divisional commissioner

Nagpur: Getting ‘Covid hospital’ status without meeting the set standard of fire and electrical safety protocols would now be difficult.
On Tuesday, divisional commissioner Prajakta Lavangare-Verma urged the collectors of six districts, during a review meeting in the backdrop of Ahmednagar tragedy, to act tough with the hospitals not complying with the fire and electrical safety norms and standard protocols set forth during the expert audits.
The senior IAS officer has asked the collectors to act ‘consciously’ and ‘judiciously’ with the hospitals not having fire safety compliance while approving their Covid status in case there is a spike in numbers of cases.
The district administrations has been urged by the divisional commissioner to start meeting with the stakeholders to ensure fire and electrical safety norms are being complied and adhered to by the private hospitals.
Lavangare-Verma has also asked the collectors of six districts to release budgets through District planning council’s (DPC) Covid fund for the government hospitals to meet the fire and electrical safety standards as per the audit requirements.
The divisional commissioner has also stressed on the Nagpur pattern measure where the collector has already released DPC Covid funds for upgrading the fire and electrical safety measures at government hospitals following safety audits post Bhandara tragedy of January this year when the fire at district government hospital had claimed lives of around 10 new-borns at the neo-natal intensive care unit. Apart from Nagpur, Gondia and Bhandara collectors are also learnt to have released DPC Covid funds for complying with the fire and electrical safety norms.
Lavangare-Verma has also asked the collectors and technical experts from different departments to contemplate installing ‘gas detectors or alarms’ following a deliberation at chief secretary level review meeting. “These gas alarms or detectors would be able to detect any concentration or accumulation of any combustible gases like oxygen inside the ICUs or such spaces at hospital where their usage is higher,” she told TOI.
Lavangare-Verma has also instructed the district administrations to ensure that the private hospitals do not get their ‘B form’ approval meant after complying with safety standards, like conducting mock drills, if the compliance with fire and electrical audit standards are not met.
She has also urged the administrative heads to ensure the vacancies of the fire safety officers are filled up at the local civic bodies through a recruitment process.
Meanwhile, statistics shared by the fire department of Nagpur Municipal Corporation showed that only 45% hospitals have submitted their ‘B forms’ this year, 20% have fire fitness certificates, 27% have done their fire audits and 71% have completed mock drills.