When hospitals become fire hazards

Most past instances of hospital fires — across the country — highlighted a volatile mix of hospitals’ particular vulnerability to such accidents

The Odisha government lost little time in announcing a judicial probe into the fire at SCB Medical College and Hospital on Monday that killed 12 and left 14 with serious injuries, along with compensation for their families. Given that the hospital is run by the state government, it must now enable the single-member (a district judge) commission that’s been appointed, to conduct a thorough probe that reveals all points of failure so that those responsible for the fire are brought to book.

The 2019 decision to upgrade the hospital into a “world-class, AIIMS-plus” facility would seem the right prescription — only if implementation had matched ambition. (PTI)

The tragedy is a telling indictment of the poor upkeep of the state’s oldest hospital (established in 1944.) A facility this old is sure to have serious deficiencies in terms of modern safety standards. The 2019 decision to upgrade the hospital into a “world-class, AIIMS-plus” facility would seem the right prescription — only if implementation had matched ambition. The ₹4,400-crore project suffered several delays, with the deadline postponed from July 2024 to December 2025 and then to July 2026 — earning stinging rebukes from the Odisha High Court. Meanwhile, the safety of the hospital’s crumbling infrastructure seems to have taken a backseat. The state fire services administration pointed out that the last fire safety audit, conducted well over a year ago, had suggested several measures. There appear to have been some shocking failures of routine operation as well — the control valve of the automatic sprinkler system being closed and the fire alarm switched off.

Most past instances of hospital fires — across the country — highlighted a volatile mix of hospitals’ particular vulnerability to such accidents (presence of combustible material, overcrowding) and strings of administrative lapses (poor infrastructure to safety negligence). The state government must now put the pending upgradation work on the fast track, address vulnerabilities in existing infrastructure at the earliest, and book the administrators culpable for the disaster. Other states would do well to take note.