BMC LoP flags glaring fire safety lapse at Sion Hospital

A fire at Mumbai's Sion Hospital revealed outdated fire safety equipment, raising concerns for patient safety; refills for extinguishers are underway.

MUMBAI: More than a week after a fire caused a scare at the civic-run Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital, popularly known as Sion Hospital, the fire-fighting equipment was found to be outdated, raising questions about the safety of the thousands of patients who frequent one of Mumbai’s largest public hospitals.

The lack of effective safety equipment was highlighted when Kishori Pednekar, opposition leader in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), flagged the issue during a surprise visit to the hospital on Saturday morning.

On March 31, a Level-I fire broke out at the hospital’s OPD building, leading to the evacuation of 300-350 patients. While no injuries were reported, OPD patients and staff were shifted to safer areas within the hospital due to the accumulation of smoke.

However, the fire in the hospital’s X-ray department caused by an exploding AC unit, led to public concern. The lack of effective safety equipment was highlighted when Kishori Pednekar, opposition leader in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), flagged the issue during a surprise visit to the hospital on Saturday morning.

“I found that the fire extinguishers had expired two months ago, and had not been refilled, thus rendering them ineffective during fire emergencies,” Pednekar told HT. She also questioned how the issue of expired fire equipment had not come up during the annual fire audit the hospital is supposed to conduct.

Following the incident, the BMC instructed the hospital to refill its fire extinguishers and render them usable again.

Dr Pramod Ingale, dean of the hospital, admitted that 714 fire extinguishers at the hospital had expired. “Of these, some had expired in February and other in March. These were to be refilled by the BMC’s central purchase department (CPD). Today, the CPD gave us the go-ahead to refill these fire extinguishers at the hospital level,” Dr Ingale said.

Accordingly, the hospital will issue fresh tenders on Monday for refilling these fire extinguishers. “The entire process of tendering and refilling is expected to take about a month,” said Dr Ingale.

However, until this process is fully effective, the hospital has decided to introduce a self-audit exercise, where department heads can assess the fire safety of the hospital complex.

“Staffers could help detect fire hazards within the hospital complex, such as open cables, overloaded switches, exposed electrical wires at sockets, whether or not electrical panels or DP boxes are covered and secure. They could also check whether flammable material is placed near electrical points, oxygen equipment is not near electrical points, and if equipment heats up excessively,” Dr Ingale said.

The hospital has drafted a checklist for department heads to self-evaluate fire safety standards at the hospital, which has over 3,000 employees and 2,500 students on its campus. The entire exercise is expected to take a month for implementation.