157 hospitals, nursing
homes lack fire safety measures in J&K
Tahir Mushtaq
JAMMU, Sept 16:
Raising question mark over the safety measures of the hospitals, majority
of the Government as well as private hospitals in Jammu and Kashmir have been
found lacking equipment to tackle the fire incidents.
Sources said that a
survey conducted by the government with the help of Fire and Emergency Services
Department has found that most of the hospitals are poorly prepared for any
major fire incident, which could be life threatening for hundreds of patients
and people visiting the hospitals.
At the same time, the
administration of all the Government hospitals and nursing homes was directed
to equip their health institutions with the required firefighting equipment to
avoid any untoward incident that results in loss of life and property.
A senior officer said
that during the survey across the state, the Fire Department inspected a total
of 157 hospitals including Government Medical Colleges of Jammu and Srinagar
and their Associated Hospitals and nursing homes and the outcome of the same
was shocking keeping in view that there are no fool proof fire alarm system.
"These
revelations indicate that authorities of the Health and Medical Education
Department, who are at the helm of affairs in the Government hospitals, have
never paid any serious attention towards installing fire fighting equipment”, a
source claimed.
Sources said that Home
Department, the Fire and Emergency Services Department has started preparing
specific requirements vis-à-vis fire safety measures both short term and long
term for each and every hospital.
After going through
the detailed report, government has directed the hospitals and construction
companies to have consonance with the Part-4 of the National Building Code
which are required to be followed by the hospitals and nursing homes, sources
said while informing that National Building Code’s Part-4 deals with the fire
safety measures and is quite clear about the safety of life.
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