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Jhansi blaze: Power safety audit exposed lapses, but medical college sat on warnings
The report had brought to fore glaring lapses including exposed wires with joints, lack of earthing and miniature circuit breakers and missing firefighting systems
LUCKNOW The devastating fire in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of Jhansi’s Maharani Lakshmi Bai Medical College on Friday “due to a short-circuit”, which killed 12 newborns, could have been averted had hospital authorities heeded to the recommendations of the panel that conducted an electricity safety audit at this government hospital five months ago.
The report, to which HT has access, had brought to fore glaring lapses in this hospital. These included exposed wires with joints, lack of earthing and miniature circuit breakers (MCBs), missing firefighting systems and distribution of circuits not matching the power load. A devastating fire broke out in the medical college’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) on Friday “due to a short-circuit”, killing 12 newborn babies.
“The audit conducted as part of the statewide drive in the wake of the fire incident in a unit of the SGPGI in Lucknow had found serious lapses in the Jhansi hospital, like in many other government hospitals in the state,” director (electricity safety) GK Singh said.
“We had pointed out all the shortcomings to the medical college administration, expecting them to comply with the directions. However, we have received no compliance report from them,” he added.
According to the safety audit report (dated June 20, 2024), the inspection of the hospital was conducted on June 17 and 18 this year by a two-member team comprising assistant director, electricity safety, Jhansi, Chandra Bhushan Chaubey and electricity safety officer, Jhansi, Mulayam Singh Yadav.
The report revealed critical issues in various departments and units, including administrative building, auditorium, anatomy, pathology, among others. Many wiring connections were exposed and had joints, and junction boxes were left open, increasing fire risks. Aluminum wiring was reported to be improperly secured in numerous areas.
It was found that an overhead LT line was going only two metres above the gallery and the tin shade of the department of gynecology and obstetrics department. As per rules, the distance from the ground should not be less than 15 metres.
Emergency electrical systems were found inadequate, and critical backups such as earthing mechanisms were absent. Cooling systems and fans in panels were missing or dysfunctional.
Basic safety precautions like securing live wires and replacing damaged components were not undertaken.
According to the report, two panels for the emergency system were found to be damaged, the main electrical panel’s PDB (Power Distribution Board) earth strip was broken and the air socket not properly earthed. Besides, the main wiring in certain places was not found to be connected with the PDB/DB, leading to the possibility of electrical fires.
The audit also found that there was no arrangement for firefighting systems like fire extinguishers and smoke alarms in most units of the medical college.
“What is most important is that even MCBs/MCCBs that prevent any damage to an electrical circuit in the event of an excess current were also found missing from most of the places in the hospital,” Singh said referring to the report.
According to Chaubey who conducted the safety audit, another inspection of the Jhansi medical college was done in January 2024 on the district magistrate’s orders. “But when we conducted the safety audit five months later in June, we found the same lapses that we found in January inspection despite our asking the hospital administration to address the shortcomings,” he added.
It may be pointed out that a preliminary inquiry by the commissioner (Jhansi) pointed to a spark due to a short-circuit as the possible reason for the blaze in the hospital. The final report of the investigation being conducted by officials from multiple departments is expected to come by the end of the week.
The hospital management was not available for a comment despite several calls.
