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City hospitals in a fix over fire NOC
HBI official said several hospitals in the city are unable to apply for fire NOC due to problems with website
PUNE: Following directions from the state government, the health department of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has initiated inspection of private hospitals registered under the Bombay Nursing Home Registration Act 1949 however several hospitals in the city are unable to apply for a fire no-objection certificate (NOC) due to technical glitches in the PMC’s application website.
Dr Sanjay Patil, national secretary, Hospital Board of India (HBI), said that on the one hand, several hospitals in the city are unable to apply for the fire NOC due to problems with the website and on the other hand, the PMC has started taking action for non-compliance with Nursing Home Act norms. “The fire brigade department too is unaware when the issue will be solved, as the website is managed by the PMC’s information technology (IT) department,” Dr Patil said.
Confirming the development, Prabhar Umbratkar, station duty officer, said that definitely there are problems in the online application process but they can be solved for sure. “We are aware that there are some technical glitches but the hospitals if required can meet us personally. Many hospitals have a large number of documents with heavy files due to which they face problems in uploading. To solve this, they can upload the old fire NOC and certificate of fire extinguishers and we will take the process ahead,” Umbratkar said.
“Hospitals have to upload multiple documents due to which they face problems. However, all documents have to be uploaded without excuse for the new fire NOC,” Umbratkar said.
Pune city has as many as 850 private hospitals registered under the Nursing Home Act and since last year, the PMC has made online applications mandatory for getting a fire NOC. After an application is made, fire department officials visit the hospital and later issue the fire NOC. The process to get a fire NOC takes around a couple of months. However, many private hospitals claim that they are unable to upload the documents to process the application. Since last week, the PMC has started inspection of private hospitals and till date, as many as 200 hospitals have been inspected. Notices have been issued to six hospitals for allegedly violating the Bombay Nursing Home Registration Act 1949 and Maharashtra Nursing Home Registration (Amendment) Rules 2021, officials said. However, most hospitals that have been issued notice have been found operating sans a valid fire NOC.
Dr Patil said that hospitals complete the fire compliance from a government-registered agency which later issues form B which is required for getting the fire NOC. “The PMC should refrain from taking action against hospitals that are unable to get the fire NOC due to technical issues,” he said.
Indian Medical Association (IMA) Pune member, Dr Ravindra Chajjed, who is coordinating with the PMC and hospitals, informed that since the inception of the website, there have been frequent glitches. “I have personally gone to the fire brigade department and pointed out the issue. The process of applying online is tedious and made compulsory by the PMC. The PMC should even accept applications offline which can help in such a situation,” he said.
Dr Chajjed added, “The hospitals regularly face issues while applying for the fire NOC. There is no use in making the process online if the hospitals cannot apply. The PMC has failed to make the required changes and maintenance, despite requests in the past.”
On his part, Dr Suryakant Devkar, assistant health officer of the PMC, said that it is the responsibility of the hospitals to furnish the fire NOC during the inspection. “If there are any technical issues, they can personally visit and meet the fire department officials and request to accept the forms offline. During inspection, the fire NOC has to be there or at least it has to be shown that the application is under process. However, we are initially issuing notices and giving 30 days to complete the compliance before action,” he said.
