india

Updated: Dec 19, 2018 00:09 IST

The Maharashtra government on Tuesday ordered a probe into the fire at a Mumbai hospital that has so far killed eight people and left 176 injured, 25 of them critically, even as allegations of negligence by the hospital administration surfaced a day after the incident.

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis ordered a probe into the fire at the ESIC Kamgar Hospital in suburban Mumbai on a day the death toll rose to eight after the deaths of two more people. Fadnavis also spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union health minister JP Nadda about the incident.

An official of the fire department said it appeared the hospital lacked a proper fire-fighting system. “Prima facie is appears that the building did have a passive fire-fighting system in place such as emergency exits and stairs, but it also seems that the active fire-fighting system needs to be changed and updated such as sprinklers, fire extinguishers and other such installations were not in place,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

Another official, who was part of the rescue operation and asked not to be named, said many of the fire extinguishers were outdated.

Eight people, including a six-month-old girl, were killed in the blaze at the government hospital on Monday.

A staff member of the hospital said there was a small fire in March that was never reported to the fire brigade. “The hospital infrastructure has been crumbling for some time now. Some time back, there was a fire which was doused by us [staff members]. After that, we believed that the hospital authorities would take fire safety norms seriously but things didn’t change,” the hospital employee said on condition of anonymity.

Mumbai has witnessed more than a dozen major fires in residential and commercial premises this year, claiming at least 50 lives and injuring hundreds, besides damaging property worth crores of rupees.

On Monday, the fire extinguishers and other active fire-fighting systems did not function properly, causing deaths, most of them because of suffocation from smoke.

“Although there were fire extinguishers in place they were past their best-by date and other in-built fire systems did not work when the fire erupted... Around six months ago, the staff had a fire drill but with no system in place, the training did not help. Also, there is no disaster management committee in place,” alleged another hospital employee, asking not to be named.

The 325-bed ESIC (Employees State Insurance Scheme) Kamgar Hospital at Marol in suburban Andheri was built in 1973. Nearly 375 people, including patients and visitors, were in the five-floor hospital during visiting hours when fire and smoke were reported on its fourth floor around 4pm on Monday. The hospital authorities have shut down the facility till further notice.

While there were reports that the hospital did not appear to have the final no-objection certificate (NOC) for fire compliance, officials said the probe would ascertain the fire safety credentials of the hospital.

As per preliminary reports, material stored for renovation at the hospital caught fire, generating a thick envelope of smoke.

The labour ministry has announced a compensation of ~10 lakh for the next of kin of the dead and between ~1,00,000-~2,00,000 for the minor and seriously injured.

Responding to the allegations of negligence, BB Gupta, the medical superintendent of the hospital, said: “The old building had extinguishers, sprinklers and other fire fighting system in place but they were not active and we were in the process of replacing them and installing new ones.”

“The staff did not use any of the extinguishers but focused on rescuing people,” he added.

A new building adjacent to the one built in 1973 is still under construction at the complex that is under the jurisdiction of the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation.

A fire brigade officer said that in case of evacuations at hospitals, the rescue operation is horizontal, wherein a parallel building can be used to house rescued patients. “The new building, which is parallel, helped in the evacuation since it was empty,” he said.

(With inputs from agencies)