The tragic fire accident at Shine Children’s Hospital, LB Nagar, which led to death of an infant, made people question the lack of fire safety measures taken in hospitals.
District Medical and Health Officers (DMHO), on condition of anonymity, said that many hospitals located in and around Hyderabad neither maintain fire safety measures nor have fire no- objection certificate (NoC).
Besides, some of the hospital managements, whose building height is below 15-meters, stated to the officials that they thought they do not require the NoC.
A few days after the fire accident at the children’s hospital, DMHOs sent letters to hospitals managements asking if they have fire NoC and that action will be taken if officials find any lapses during random checks.
“A few managements of hospitals responded stating that their building height is 13-metres or below and thought that they did not require fire NoC. They assured to get it at the earliest on coming to know about the rules,” said a DMHO. “There are many hospitals which do not maintain required fire safety measures,” another DMHO said. The health officials are confused about the department concerned which issues the NoC. According to rules, any commercial building above 15-metres should get the NoC from Telangana Disaster Response and Fire Services Department. In case of commercial buildings below 15-metres, the NoC should be applied with the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation’s Enforcement, Vigilance & Disaster Management (EVDM) wing’s director. However, a circular issued by Telangana Disaster Response and Fire Services Department on June 3, 2018, created confusion. The circular states that hospitals 15-metres and below in height are not required to obtain fire NoC, as they are not covered under Section 13 of the The Telangana Fire Services Act, 1999. According to section 13, any person proposing to construct a building more than 15-metres height for commercial purpose have to apply for the NoC. “This notification has created confusion among people. DMHOs have to insist for the fire NoC,” a senior official from GHMC said.
The GHMC’s EVDM director Vishwajit Kampati said, “All commercial buildings below 15-metres have to take fire NoC. It is given before issuing Occupancy Certificate. The exemptions are Category A and B residential buildings which are single occupancy and double occupancy”.
Means of escape, fire safety measures and set backs are checked before it is issued. The official said that old buildings too are given a chance to apply for the certificate. It is renewed every year. The installations are checked to find if they are working before the renewal.
1,150 notices issued
Out of the 1,600 hospitals in GHMC limits, the EVDM wing issued notices to 1,150 hospitals managements directing them to submit set of documents, including a copy of fire NoC. Mr Vishwajit earlier said that the managements will be given some time to fix lapses, if any. The hospital would be shut down if they do not address it before the deadline.
