Several private hospitals were allegedly found to be violating fire safety norms in raids conducted by the Vigilance and Enforcement (V&E) across the city.
V&E officials found that four out of eight hospitals located at Ram Nagar, Jagadamba Junction and Gajuwaka do not possess the mandatory No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Fire Department.
Officials also observed that two of the hospitals had not renewed their license for the last seven to eight years. A couple of hospitals were not maintaining proper firefighting equipment.
“The sprinklers at a few hospitals were rusted due to lack of maintenance. The staff of several hospital do not know how to operate even basic fire safety equipment. No mockdrills were conducted at any hospitals either. The hospital managements were completely negligent,” said Vigilance & Enforcement Inspector, Visakhapatnam district, K. Mallikarjuna Rao.
Mr. Mallikarjuna Rao said it was fortunate that these hospitals had not witnessed any fire accidents so far, adding that the consequences would have been unimaginable had any untoward incident occurred.
Staff crunch
According to sources in the Fire Department of the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC), the hospitals were not responding despite a number of notices being sent to their managements.
There were just three officers and inadequate staff in the GVMC’s fire wing, due to which proper inspections were not being carried out on a regular basis, sources said.
Apart from the hospitals that were raided, over 80% of the hospitals in the city have not renewed their fire safety NOCs.
The Vigilance and Fire Safety Department of GVMC are chalking out plans to initiate action against them, it is learnt.
Report being prepared
Regional Vigilance and Enforcement Officer (RVEO-In Charge) and DSP of the V&E Department, Visakhapatnam, K. Sravani said that they were preparing a report about the poor status of fire safety maintenance at the hospitals, which would be sent to the government soon. The government would initiate action in accordance with the Fire Safety Act, she said.
