In the aftermath of the deadly fire at a neonatal hospital that charred seven newborns and injured five others in the national Capital on Saturday night, the Delhi Government on Monday sprung into action directing all hospitals to complete a fire audit by June 8. Police investigations revealed severe lapses including the hospital operating on expired licence and no clearance from the fire department.
On Monday, the Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj convened a meeting of the Health Department officials to discuss the incident in east Delhi's Vivek Vihar area. Following the high-level meeting, Bhardwaj said the Delhi Government will issue directions to all private and State-run hospitals to complete a fire audit by June 8 and submit a compliance report.
"On April 24, we had issued directions to all hospitals for fire preparedness. On May 8, we had asked them to conduct a fire audit. We will ask all private and Delhi Government-run hospitals to complete a fire audit by June 8 and submit a compliance report to the health department," Bhardwaj said.
He declared that no culprit will be spared, irrespective of their status and announced stringent new safety regulations for nursing homes over nine metres tall, mandating water sprinklers and smoke detectors, and directed all CDMOs to conduct random inspections.
“The owner of this hospital also runs another similar hospital in Paschim Puri. Cases have been registered against him twice in different incidents. These cases are going on against him in Karkardooma Court and Tis Hazari Court. A surprise inspection was done in which deficiencies were found, so a case was registered against him. Once he was found running the hospital without registration, a case was registered against him. It is expected that soon the court will give its verdict against the owner of this nursing home in these cases and he will be given a severe punishment,” he added.
Bharadwaj, while pointing out a very shocking thing regarding the incident, said there is a suspicion that the work of refilling oxygen was going on on the lowest floor of the nursing home. “We are also investigating this, if any such work was going on there, then does the hospital administration have its license and if not, then on what basis was this work going on in the hospital and by whom was this work being done, this is being investigated.
Because fire spreads very quickly due to oxygen, therefore the work of refilling oxygen cannot be done everywhere, there are some provisions for this, permission has to be taken from the government for this.”
Bodies of five of the seven newborns killed in the hospital fire have been handed over to their families after post-mortem while the other two bodies will be handed over after autopsy. Additionally, a Delhi court allowed the Delhi Police's plea seeking three days of custodial interrogation of the owner Dr Naveen Khichi and on-duty doctor Dr Aaksh of the hospital.
Additionally, the District Magistrate of Shahdara, Rishita Gupta, has submitted a factual report to the divisional commissioner regarding the incident on Sunday. In the report it was revealed that out of the seven dead newborn babies, four were male and three female. Barring one 25 days old boy, the rest were 15 days old infants. A detailed report in the matter is awaited.
He also said two nurses and some locals rescued the babies without worrying about their lives. "We will recommend their names for bravery awards," he added. He also informed that the revenue department will be asked to expedite the process of compensation to the families of the babies killed and injured in the fire.
The meeting at the Delhi secretariat, where health department officials including the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and Special Secretary of Health were present, also discussed the ongoing heatwave conditions. “In view of the ongoing heatwave conditions, 26 Delhi Government-run hospitals will reserve two beds each for heatstroke patients while five beds will be reserved at the LNJP Hospital,” the Health Minister said.
The Delhi Government had ordered a magisterial inquiry into the fire tragedy. In an order issued on Sunday, Divisional Commissioner Ashwani Kumar directed the district magistrate of the Shahdara district to inquire into the fire tragedy that occurred on Saturday night.
"And whereas it is essential to cause a magisterial inquiry into the aforesaid incident. Now therefore, district magistrate (Shahadra)/ chairman, District Disaster Management Authority is hereby directed to inquire into the said fire tragedy so as to ascertain the circumstances that led to the fire tragedy, to fix the responsibility on the persons for the said incident, and to suggest measures to prevent recurrence of such incidents in future," it said. The order directed that the inquiry report be submitted "as expeditiously as possible".
A case has been registered at Vivek Vihar police station under IPC sections 336 (act endangering life and personal safety of others) and 304A (causing death by negligence), 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide).
Both the arrested persons were produced in a Karkardoma court in the afternoon. Forensic teams and an inspector from the Electricity department visited the spot on Monday to ascertain the exact cause of the fire.
