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Sassoon hospital’s fire compliance stuck due to revision of norms, estimates
The Sassoon hospital administration is currently revising the implementation of its fire safety strategy as per norms laid down by the National Safety Council
PUNE The city’s largest hospital, Sassoon General Hospital, which is run by the government, has not yet got a fire compliance approval from the state government.
The hospital administration is currently revising the implementation of its fire safety strategy as per norms laid down by the National Safety Council.
Earlier the PWD had estimated that work valued at ₹4.5 crore was pending with regards to fire safety, primarily in the old buildings of the hospital campus.
At any given point of time there are hundreds of patients admitted and thousands working to keep the hospital and the BJ Medical college functioning.
Dr Vinayak Kale, dean of the BJ Medical college and Sassoon General said, “The revised proposal is being prepared as per the norms of the National Safety Council. The earlier one which we had prepared was as per another agency. The PMRDA has revised estimates as per the norms of the NSC. The new NSC order came in just a month ago and we are now working on the new order.”
When asked why the earlier fire safety proposal was not put in place Dr Kale said that while the hospital had sent the earlier proposal it had not been accepted at the time due to certain rectifications that were needed, which were later met.
“By the time the proposal could be accepted the central government made it mandatory for all hospitals to work on fire compliance as per the National Safety Council,” Dr Kale said.
A senior official from the hospital requesting anonymity said, “There was a review by the commissioner of medical education on Wednesday and additional information has been sent on Thursday. Revised estimates were submitted on Friday. The revision was necessitated to comply with the fire safety audit conducted by the agency appointed by the government, while the earlier one was prepared by the PWD electrical department. The revision is under process to comply with the standards set by this new government.”
