E-Paper
24 Pune city hospitals yet to receive post-audit fire compliance clearance
The PMC has issued notices to these Pune city hospitals and is awaiting a response. The health department is authorised to seize the licence if a hospital fails to comply
PUNE As per the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) fire department, 24 private hospitals in the city and “at least eight civic hospitals” are yet to comply with fire norms. The PMC has issued notices to these hospitals and is awaiting a response. The health department is authorised to seize the licence if a hospital fails to comply. The fire compliance of civic hospitals is under process as tenders have been declared and in some cases, work is under way.
Prashant Ranpise, chief fire officer said, “There are 24 hospitals in the city who are yet to receive fire compliance clearance from us. After the Bhandara fire accident we had issued a thorough fire audit and compliance. Following the review we had issued notices to 24 private hospitals in the city that were found to not comply. This was in May and June and we are yet to get any response from them. We have not yet received form B from the hospitals which ensures compliance on their behalf.”
As many as 10 newborns had died in the blaze inside NICU of Bhandara government hospital during January this year. It followed series of similar mishaps elsewhere including Nashik, Virar and Ahmednagar where 11 persons lost their lives as fire broke out inside the ICU ward of civil hospital on Saturday.
Ranpise added, “We have informed the health department regarding the 24 hospitals in the city, since the health department has the right to seize the licence if they continue to function without fire compliance. Similarly, we also issued notices to about at least eight civic hospitals who were found to be lacking in fire fighting devices or the devices were not working properly. The proposals for the same have been passed by the standing committee and we have been informed that the work is going on.”
