No fire safety equipment in many hospitals in state: Fire Services DG

Visakhapatnam: There is no fire and safety equipment in 60 per cent of the hospitals in the state. All the hospital managements are liable for action as per the Fire Act, said Director General of Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Response and Fire Services Department (APSDR and FSD) K Satyanarayana.
Fire and Security Association of India organised a seminar on ‘Hospital Fire and Safety System Standards, Implementation and Evacuation Measures’ in case of exigency specially designed programme for the Hospitals’.

Addressing a seminar here on Saturday, Satyanarayana suggested to all the hospitals to implement fire safety systems and following AP Fire Act as well as National Building code. The APSDR and FSD inspected hospitals and found that 60 per cent of the hospitals have not provided fire safety equipment and they are liable for action as per Fire Act. Inaugurating the seminar, former health minister Kamineni Srinivas stressed the need and importance of implementing fire safety systems in hospitals to avoid fire accidents. 

He also narrated various fire accidents in hospitals in the country and abroad causing the death of patients and property loss for the hospital management. Dr CV Rao, Vice-Chancellor Dr NTR Health University advised all the gospitals to follow the fire safety norms. KP Dominic, National President of FSAI, stated that the association is a non-profit organisation spreading the cause of fire safety in every walk of life and highlighted the awareness programmes conducted in all chapters for the schoolchildren.

The speakers in the seminar emphasised root cause of hospital fires, including electrical short circuit, hospital kitchen fires and fire accident caused due to improper housekeeping and piling of garbage in basement floors. Over 300 delegates from various hospitals,  architecture students from GITAM and Andhra Universities attended.