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9 Covid patients killed in fire at Mumbai hospital
Nine Covid-19 patients, mostly senior citizens, were killed on Friday after a massive fire broke out at Sunrise Hospital, located inside the Dreams Mall in Bhandup, officials said
Nine Covid-19 patients, mostly senior citizens, were killed on Friday after a massive fire broke out at Sunrise Hospital, located inside the Dreams Mall in Bhandup, officials said. Six of the dead were on ventilators.
The fire started on first floor of the mall on Thursday night and soon spread to the third floor, which houses the hospital. Officials from the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) said the firefighting system, including sprinklers, were not functioning. A notice for non-compliance of fire safety norms was issued to the mall in November 2020, they added.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who visited the spot, ordered an enquiry into the incident, announced ₹5 lakh compensation to the family of the deceased, and asked for their forgiveness.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has ordered a fire audit of all the Covid-19 hospitals and health centres in the wake of the incident, and Mumbai’s mayor Kishori Pednekar has ordered an additional inquiry into how a Covid hospital was allowed to run inside a mall.
“If there is any negligence or delay in it, it will be investigated and action will be taken against those who are responsible for it,” said chief minister Thackeray. “The hospital was functioning on a temporary permission that was due to end on March 31. Unfortunately, the fire started on the first floor [of the mall]. Many Covid patients were safely taken out of hospital.”
Thackeray also pulled up the administration. “We wake up after such incidents and inquiries are ordered. I have already asked state authorities to carry out structural and fire audits of hospitals and Covid Care Centres and Jumbo facilities and ensure no such incidents happen. Some people who were on ventilators could not be saved. I ask for forgiveness for their families.”
According to BMC, there were 78 patients in the hospital at the time of the incident. Two were already dead after failing to recover from Covid-related complications, and nine died due to the fire.
The blaze was first reported at around 11.45pm on the first floor of the mall. MFB was yet to give details about the cause of the fire. Sunrise Hospital authorities contended in a statement that it responded responsibly to the incident, and called for an investigation to determine how the fire spread.
“The fire was on the first floor of Dreams Mall, Bhandup, and not in the hospital. The smoke had reached up to Sunrise Hospital located at the top floor. All fire alarms beeped and hence all patients were safely evacuated due to the smoke to the fire refuge area .There were two dead bodies (due to Covid) which were also evacuated. There was no casualty due to fire. All patients were promptly shifted to Jumbo Covid centre (and some to other private hospitals). The patients were shifted alive, but there were few patients on ventilator and extremely critical. We believe that the casualties have not occurred due to fire, but either in transit or at other hospitals,” the hospital claimed.
It further said that the hospital was started in “exceptional circumstances of Covid last year”, and was “functioning with all due compliances”.
“The hospital staff did their best in safely evacuating patients on wheelchairs and beds to the refuge areas and by following the fire drills. The patients were then shifted with the help of local authorities... We have spoken to the authorities and request them to investigate and find the cause of the fire. The guilty need to be punished as the lives of people have been lost in the unfortunate incident,” the statement added.
Hemant Parab, deputy chief fire officer, MFB, said the mall was in violation of safety norms. “In the backdrop of a fire last year in City Centre Mall, we had inspected this particular Dreams Mall. A notice was issued to them for non-compliance of fire safety violations due to certain concerns. During fire fighting also we observed that none of the fire safety mechanisms got activated inside the mall. We will conduct a detailed probe into the incident now.”
Though the fire was brought under control by Friday afternoon, , firefighting was underway at the time of going to print. Till Friday evening, BMC had traced 46 patients who were evacuated from the hospital. Several of them shifted to nearby hospitals, whereas some opted to go back to their homes, the civic body said.
A political slugfest also began after the incident, with the Bharatiya Janata Party blaming BMC of cutting corners to allow the hospital to function.
“A case of homicide should be registered against the officials who allowed the operations of the hospital inside the mall. Despite repeated complaints by local BJP corporator Sakshi Dalvi, it was ignored due to political pressure. In reply to the complaint in writing, the Medical Officer Health Department of BMC said that they had issued a certificate of registration to Sunrise Hospital. The fire brigade also issued a no-objection certificate,” BJP corporator Prabhakar Shinde said.
Former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also visited the spot, said, “It seems that the authorities have not learnt from past incidents in Bhandara or even in Apex Hospital in Mulund last year. The government has not woken up even after similar incidents in the past. We cannot expect anything better from the BMC considering its system is filled with corruption.”
The BMC, on its part, said it will probe if there were any other violations. “The hospital had occupation certificate and also the fire compliance to operate, but we are told there were fire violations inside the mall. However, that is under fire department’s purview, but I have asked my staff to investigate whether there were any other structural violations inside the mall,” assistant municipal commissioner V Acharekar said.
