Warangal: Questions over fire safety

Warangal: In the wake of back-to-back fire mishaps in Vijayawada and Ahmedabad that claimed several lives in the last few days, the Greater Warangal district administration has a task at hand to find out how safe the Covid-19 care centres are. With a spurt in number of Covid-19 cases, the government had already paved way for private hospitals to take up the treatment, and against this backdrop, there are certain doubts that creep into mind, whether the all the hospitals possess 'No Objection Certificate' (NOC) from the Fire Services Department?

Apart from the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital (MGMH), there are eight private hospitals in the city that have got clearance from the government to treat the Covid-19 patients. Another four hospitals are waiting for permission, according to Warangal Urban DM&HO K Lalitha Devi.

It is learnt that a few of these hospitals are not in adherence to fire safety guidelines. Compared to other buildings, fire mishaps in hospitals are disastrous as they house a large number of patients, their attendants and staff who need to be evacuated. Needless to mention some patients are physically weak or incapable of moving on their own or on life support machine. The functioning of fire alarm, fire exits, dampers, fire extinguishers and hose reels etc is an often-repeated complaint whenever there was a fire mishap.

Speaking to The Hans India, the Warangal District Fire Officer Mamidi Bhagwan Reddy said, "There are no high-rise buildings that house hospitals in the City barring the seven-storied PMSSY Super-speciality hospital coming up in the Kakatiya Medical College (KMC). We have inspected it and found necessary arrangements. We told the hospital authorities to comply with all the guidelines before they commence the Covid-19 care centre."

When asked about other hospitals, Reddy said that the fire prevention wing of the Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation (GWMC) is taking care of fire NOCs of the buildings that are below 15 meters height.

Contradicting it, the Fire Prevention Officer (GWMC) G Venkatnarayana Rao said: "A circular issued by the Telangana State Disaster Response and Fire Services Department says that the hospital buildings which are below 15 meters do not require fire NOC. Of late, we haven't issued NOC to anyone."

Against this backdrop, it's high time for the administration to look into the fire safety norms of the buildings facilitating Covid-19 care.