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A day after a fire broke out in an operation theatre at the Advanced Cardiac Centre of the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), the hospital director announced that the campus will undergo a fire safety audit by the Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee.
PGI has begun electrical audits of each building to prevent fire and spark hazards due to frequent tripping, especially during summers.(HT Photo)
PGIMER Director Dr Vivek Lal said, “For the first time, a fire safety audit will be conducted at PGIMER by CBRI Roorkee. Fire safety training for staff is also being conducted regularly.”
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Saturday's fire was the fifth at PGIMER in six months. Following the latest fire incident, PGI has initiated an electrical audit of each building to prevent fire hazards and sparks due to frequent tripping, especially during summers.
“Following the recent unfortunate fire outbreak at the Advanced Cardiology Centre, a meeting has been scheduled for April 1, 2024 to investigate the causes and address the concerns surrounding the accident,” Pankaj Rai, deputy director (administration), PGIMER, said in a statement on Sunday.
No casualties were reported in Saturday's fire, but it revealed that organizational failings by the hospital authorities had turned the hospital into a deathtrap. Last year, the campus had seen two major fires in the month of October. The first was at Nehru Hospital on October 10, 2023, which led to the evacuation of 424 patients, including pregnant women and newborns. Another fire followed within a week, this time at the Advanced Eye Centre on October 16. In both the cases, sparks from UPS batteries were blamed for the blaze. Another fire broke out near the laundry factory on November 21, 2023.
After the Nehru Hospital fire, PGI installed over 1,700 new fire extinguishers, strengthened the existing sprinkler system, and redesigned emergency exit routes in addition to installing fire alarms, but a lack of dedicated manpower to deal with such incidents remains a major obstacle. The PGI, which covers 277 acres, has only one firefighter.
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