Etawah, 28 November (IANS). The health department of the state is on alert mode after the death of a dozen newborn children at Maharani Lakshmibai Medical College in Jhansi district of Uttar Pradesh.
In all the districts, the fire department has also received instructions to conduct inspection and investigation in government and non-government institutions associated with the health department.
In the name of fire fighting in Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Joint District Hospital of Etawah, all the arrangements are being run with the help of only fire extinguishers (cylinders). After this incident, the health department and fire department also inspected the district hospital. A budget of Rs 3 crore has already been approved by the government for installing fire related equipment in the district hospital. In this, an amount of about Rs. 1.25 crore has also been approved. But at present there is no information regarding when the executing agency will start its work.
Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Joint District Hospital, which has been running for about 29 years, does not have a Fire NOC, even though three to five thousand patients visit here every day. Despite the accident in Jhansi hospital, fire extinguishers are not installed as per the standard in the district hospital. To remain safe from fire, the district hospital is dependent only on fire extinguishers (cylinders).
A budget of about Rs 3 crore has been approved by the government for installing fire extinguishers as per standard in the district hospital and obtaining fire NOC. Out of this, Rs 124 lakh has also been transferred to the executing agency. But UPCL has not started any work yet. Machines like water tank, hydrant point, automatic machine, alarm system, smoke system etc. are to be installed in the district hospital.
Chief Medical Superintendent of Joint District Hospital, Dr. MM Arya said that the government has given the work to UPCL for the fire system in the hospital. A budget of about Rs 3 crore has been approved for this work. CMS said that just a week before the Jhansi incident, the government had transferred a budget of Rs 124 lakh to the executing agency. A letter has also been written to the executing agency for installation of fire fighting equipment. At present, our hospital has more fire extinguishers (cylinders) than it should have.
He said that apart from SNCU ward, 15 new fire extinguishers have been installed in sensitive wards and places of need in the district hospital. More of these fire extinguishers will be installed in the coming time.
–IANS
AKS/CBT
