The ward of Ahmednagar District Hospital where the fire broke out on Saturday. (Express photo by Anil Shah) The Indian Medical Associa-tion has demanded comprehensive steps to prevent fire incidents at government hospitals “instead of knee-jerk reactions of arresting doctors and staff on duty”.
Referring to the incident at the Ahmednagar District Hospital, where 11 Covid-19 patients succumbed in a fire at the ICU ward, the IMA said that it exposed the collective responsibility of the government, administration, allied departments of engineering, and maintenance.
“Instead of knee-jerk reactions, it is time for all stakeholders concerned to audit the safety norms on physical infrastructure, violence prevention, and ensure adequate funds for the upkeep and maintenance of the equipment to ensure patient safety. When such fire incidents take place in private hospitals, the owner of the hospitals are taken to task by the authorities. However, in government hospitals, the unfortunate postgraduate student doctor and nurses are arrested and put in jail,” Dr J A Jayalal, national president of IMA, said in an official statement issued on Wednesday.
“It is extremely painful to know that the doctors and staff nurses who were involved in the medical care of the patients in the ICU have been accused with charges of negligence in the fire incident. Slapping doctors and nurses with charges under Sections 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 304 A (death by negligence) of the IPC by authorities has raised serious questions about the safety of professionals in a democratic country,” read the IMA statement.
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