E-Paper
At KGMU, fire safety seems to be a secondary issue
LUCKNOW: Fire safety at the KGMU seems to be a secondary issue as there is poor upkeep of equipment and lack of training to staff for dealing with such crisis situations.
LUCKNOW: Fire safety at the KGMU seems to be a secondary issue as there is poor upkeep of equipment and lack of training to staff for dealing with such crisis situations.
The KGMU campus, spread upon 126 acres area, has several multi-storied buildings and fire-fighting systems are installed but the staff lack proper training. “Even mock drills, an exercise to test the crisis management skills of the staff, are not done regularly,” said a senior faculty member of the KGMU.
The campus has had two major fire incidents one at Trauma Centre, and another in the physiology department in recent years after which fire systems were put in place.
During the fire at the Trauma Centre it were the doctors who took command of the rescue operations and managed to bring all patients out of the building, but the staff is yet to get trained adequately.
“Quality of the fire-fighting systems and training of staff is significant and now there are several buildings that have 400 to 500 people inside at one time during the day. The fire alarms need to be tested regularly,” said another faculty member.
The Trauma Centre building has staircase and a ramp to allow patients to come out but the fire exit is not connected to all the floors.
At the Civil Hospital, fire-fighting system is being installed since February but the pace of work is slow. Here the average daily footfall is over 4,000, which includes serious patients who are unable to walk on their own.
