Fire audits of all the hospitals in the State will be reviewed: Maharashtra CM

The State Government will be carrying out an in-depth inquiry into the fire incident at the Bhandara hospital. Those who will be found guilty will face stern action. In future such incidents should not be repeated, therefore fire audits of all the hospitals in the state would be reviewed, said Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday in a media statement.

He was reacting to a tragic fire accident at a government hospital in Bhandara district, which led to the death of 10 newborns in the early hours of Saturday. The agriculturally dominant district is a part of the Vidarbha region, and it is closer to Nagpur.

Thackeray said that in the statement that the fire at the Bhandara district hospital is a very unfortunate and heartbreaking incident. At present, the health system and hospitals across the state, are struggling with Covid-19 pandemic but the security of the hospitals will not be compromised. He also announced ₹5 lakh each as compensation to the parents of the 10 newborn.

The babies died after a fire broke out in the Special Newborn Care Unit of the Bhandara hospital in the wee hours on Saturday. The infants were between a month and three months of age.

District civil surgeon Pramod Khandate told a new agency that the fire broke out at around 1.30 am. There were 17 babies in the neonatal section and seven were rescued. A nurse first noticed smoke coming out from that section of the hospital and alerted doctors and other staff who reached there in five minutes. Fire brigade personnel rescued seven babies from the section but could not save the 10 other babies, he said.

The Chief Minister further said in the statement that the firefighters and paramedics rescued seven children and did their best to prevent the fire from spreading. No matter how much comfort is given, it will not reduce the sorrow of the parents. The state government shares their grief. "I have asked both the Home Minister and the Health Minister to take immediate action against those responsible for the accident," he said in the statement.

Experts from the Fire Engineering College, Nagpur and officials from the electrical department are present at Bhandara and are investigating the exact cause of the fire, Thackeray said and further added that the new ward for children in the hospital building was inaugurated in 2015, but action will be taken immediately after getting complete information about whether the audit was completed or not and if not, why it was not done. He also directed to provide updated information on the investigation of the accident on a daily basis.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights in a tweet said that they have issued a notice to District Commissioner, Bhandara for sending factual action taken report within 48 hours on the incident.

(with agency inputs)

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