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MP hospital fire: Hospital owners, manager booked
The owners and a manager of the Newlife Multispeciality Hospital in Jabalpur city of Madhya Pradesh were booked in connection with Monday’s fire at the facility in which eight people were killed and 13 others were injured, a senior police officer said on Tuesday.
The owners and a manager of the Newlife Multispeciality Hospital in Jabalpur city of Madhya Pradesh were booked in connection with Monday’s fire at the facility in which eight people were killed and 13 others were injured, a senior police officer said on Tuesday.
Jabalpur superintendent of police, Siddharth Bahuguna, said the FIR has been registered against Dr Nishant Gupta, Dr Suresh Patel, Dr Sanjay Patel, Dr Santosh Soni — all four are owners and directors of the hospital — and manager Ram Soni under sections 304 (death due to negligence) and 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide).
While Ram Soni has been arrested, the four doctors are absconding, said Bahuguna.
The FIR was registered based on a complaint filed by Atul Jain, an eyewitness of the accident and two people who were injured in the incident — Devlal Varkade and Halki Bai — at Vijay Nagar police station.
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According to Bahuguna, an initial probe had found that the fire department clearance, called No Objection Certificate (NOC) taken by the administration for the hospital had expired in March. Fire extinguishers were not installed in the hospital and there was no emergency exit, Bahuguna said.
According to officials, three nurses, two patients and three attendants died in the incident. The deceased nurses were identifed as Shubhati Verma, Veer Singh and Mahima Jatav.
The condition of two of the injured patients is stated to be critical and they have been admitted to a medical college in the city, said officials, adding that three others are being treated at a private hospital. The others were discharged from the hospital after treatment on Tuesday.
State home minister Narottam Mishra said, “The provisional NOC was taken by the hospital last year but it expired in March this year. Strict action will be taken against the hospital administration.”
SP Bahuguna said they are also investigating the role of government officials in granting the necessary permission to the hospital without reviewing the infrastructure . “If any government official was found involved for giving permission after overlooking lapses, FIR will be registered against him too,” said the SP.
Jabalpur municipal corporation’s fire officer, Kushagra Thakre, said, “The hospital doesn’t have any system of an auto power cut. When the fire brigade was pouring water to douse the fire, we felt an electric shock. The rescue work stopped for 10 minutes and the electricity department cut the area’s power supply so we could resume work.”
“The municipal corporation and the office of the chief medical health officer (CMHO) had also written to the hospital management regarding fire safety but the hospital administration didn’t take any action,” said Thakre.
He said fluctuation in power supply caused a fire in the generator which led to Monday’s blaze.
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The hospital has been sealed and forensic officials collected samples on Tuesday, said the SP.
Aman Vishwakarma’s 19-year-old son, Tanmay, was admitted to the hospital just an hour before the fire broke out. “After a fire broke out, he called me and was crying for help, but I couldn’t do anything. I want the death sentence for doctors,” said Vishwakarma.
Jabalpur municipal corporation commissioner Ashish Bisht said: “The licence of the hospital has been cancelled as one floor was running without permission.”
