Private hospitals claim they are well-prepared

Prominent private hospitals in the Capital claim they are equipped to handle fire accidents like the one that gutted Kolkata’s AMRI Hospital on Friday morning.

Prominent private hospitals in the Capital claim they are equipped to handle fire accidents like the one that gutted Kolkata’s AMRI Hospital on Friday morning.

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Fortis Escorts Heart and Research Institute, which is visited by thousands of people daily, has an around-the-clock emergency response management team, consisting of earmarked staff members from the security, engineering, nursing and triage (emergency) departments who are trained to manage and control fire incidents. “As part of our extensive audit plan, we have an ongoing review of infrastructure safety and security,” said Ranjana Smetacek, director, marketing, Fortis Healthcare.

One of the largest hospitals in the country, Gurgaon’s Medanta-The Medicity has a full-fledged fire department that conducts fire safety drills almost every 15 days. “We have smoke and fire detectors located everywhere. In case of fire, water sprinklers get activated automatically,” said Dr Naresh Trehan, founder of the hospital.

Max Healthcare said that all their hospitals have necessary permissions and they hold regular training sessions for their staff in association with the Delhi Police. “Safety is of utmost concern. Everything from infrastructure and processes, people are geared to avert such a crisis,” said Analjit Singh, chairman of Max Hospital.

“Our hospital has a well-defined evacuation plan dividing patients in four categories based on the mobility,” said a statement from BL Kapur Hospital.