A massive fire broke out at the Metro Hospital and Heart Institute in Noida Uttar Pradesh. The structural inadequacies that become apparent at such moments can be avoided provided we ensure adequate safety measures.
The New Leam Staff
NOIDA | A major fire broke out at Metro Hospital and Heart Institute in Noida last week, the hospital was functioning without adherence to any safety protocols. Faulty construction and denial of all safety measures are said to be some of the reasons behind the tragedy. As soon as the fire started spreading fire control official reached the spot to carry forward the evacuation process and control the fire.As reported at the time of the tragedy more than 66 patients were present in the hospital and all of them were evacuated safe by the fire officials later. Out of the 66 patients 16 were critically ill patients admitted in the ICU of the hospital building.
Although it is yet to be confirmed what led to the fire but as per some sources the fire was caused due to a short-circuit of the second floor of the hospital building which later on spread out to the rest of the floors. As of now all the patients have been shifted to the other branch of metro hospital for their continued treatment.Fire officials claim that the hospital building did not have fire clearance and the hospital was running without a fire safety licence since 2018. As the officials claim that their license was yet to be renewed after 2018.
The hospital authorities on the other hand claim that the fire department made delays in issuing them a no-objection certificate even after continued application and re-application. Who is to be blamed here in this case is still a question but this yet again points out towards the negligence of the state as well as private actors towards the issue of Fire tragedies in our country.
Fire accidents is a tragedy which has no solution or remedy it can only be avoided through precautions and care, it incurs huge loss of life and property which cannot be brought back. This is a well- known fact by one and all but we often tend to neglect this and do not take necessary precautions while dealing with fire or while implementing infrastructural projects.
In order to get a fire clearance for an institutional or residential building the entrepreneur or the concerned authority is supposed to file an application at the Chief Fire Officer’s office in the fire department who then forward’s the letter for further approval after the approval fire officials visit the site for inspection wherein the they check whether safety equipment’s and proper measures are available or not for fire safety. Only after proper assurance fire department is mandated to provide fire clearance to the site. The fire clearance or the fire license is subject to timely renewal by the official in order to avoid any mis-happening.
Even after this mandatory process of fire clearance fire accidents have been growing in India and in most of the cases it is found that the property or building lacks a fire license. In December 2017, a similar accident occurred at a hospital in East Delhi’s Preet Vihar region there too it was reported that the hospital building did not have any fire clearance.
In most of the cases buildings function with a fake fire license acquired through bribe, most of these building might have a fire clearance but would lack equipment’s to deal with fire on the spot. If we dig deep then fire through short circuit is not only because of negligence but also because of the usage of cheap electronic material used to save money but this ideal of saving money further invites tragedy precisely.
Even if building have installed fire prevention equipment’s but most of the people even the occupants seldom have the knowledge of using those equipment’s. This is the result of lack of fire training amongst Indian population to deal with fire accidents. Hence one is not able to handle the fire on the spot which the spreads out and adds to a larger tragedy.
Overall this issue points out towards the negligent behaviour of the state, officials and the masses on the issue of fire safety and accident.
