Maha: Govt to allocate Rs 200 crore for fire safety compliance in over 500 hospitals

Maharashtra: The state has approved a fund of Rs 200 crore for works related to fire safety compliance across 500 hospitals in Maharashtra. The move comes after a fire audit was conducted in nearly 500 hospitals due to repeated incidents of fire outbreaks across various hospitals in Maharashtra during the pandemic.  

The Indian Express reports that 25 per cent of the funds under the district planning and development committee (DPDC) have been reserved for the health sector. N Ramaswamy, commissioner, National Health Mission, Maharashtra said, "A fund of Rs 200 crore has been sanctioned for the compliance of the fire safety measures in hospitals."

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The state has issued Rs 19 crore for fire safety implementation so far. During the Covid pandemic in 2021, around 53 people, most of them who were Covid patients, died due to fire outbreaks in the hospitals in Maharashtra. The first incident of fire outbreak was reported at the Bhandara District Hospital on January 9, which led to the death of ten infants. 

Following that, multiple incidents were reported in Mumbai. The last reported incident took place on November 6 during which a fire broke out at the ICU of Ahmednagar Civil Hospital that led to the death of 14 Covid patients. 

As per the preliminary investigation, many of the Covid care centres and hospitals did not have adequate fire-fighting equipment. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray April had directed all the districts to conduct a fire audit across the hospitals to gauge the violations of fire safety rules. 

During the last three months, around 511 tertiary-care and peripheral hospitals other than primary health centres were audited by the state for implementing the fire safety rules. The inspection was conducted under the PWD department. 

Ramaswamy told the Indian Express, "The fire safety gaps have been analysed for total compliance. The work has been initiated for the implementation of the suggestions," adding, "Along with medical colleges and tertiary-level hospitals, we have also audited primary health care centres."

The Medical Dialogues team had earlier reported about the incidents of the fire outbreak. The team had last reported about Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope's announcement which had observed that the state government would allocate funds for fire safety audits in all district hospitals and also work towards creating a post of 'fire safety officer' in each of these facilities a day after the massive blaze in the ICU of Ahmednagar civil hospital. 

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