Neonatal unit cleared with out hearth audit, attraction for tools pending

A Rs 1.52 crore proposal to put in a brand new hearth security system on the Bhandara District General Hospital, the place 10 infants died in a blaze early Saturday morning, has been pending with the state authorities for seven months. Meanwhile, arrange in 2015, the Sick Neonatal Care Unit (SNCU) the place the infants died had had just one mock hearth drill, again in 2016-17, as per a district official.
Bhandara district authorities had been additionally but to get a hearth audit achieved on the hospital, regardless of a December 2020 order by Maharashtra National Health Mission Director N Ramaswamy to all districts to conduct such audits in authorities hospitals.
Sources on the hospital and within the district administration instructed The Sunday Express that it lacked a complete hearth system, and whereas the SNCU part did have an extinguisher, no coaching on its use had been given to staffers within the final two years.
The NABH (National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers) hearth security pointers mandate a hospital to have a hearth extinguisher, hose reel, moist riser, computerized or handbook hearth alarm system if it has greater than two flooring. The four-storey Bhandara hospital solely had one hearth extinguisher per flooring, and no alarm system, sprinkler or hose reel. However, the SNCU part did have an exit door as per hearth norms, and this aided in rescuing the infants on Saturday.

ExplainedLatest hospital hearthThe Bhandara hospital hearth is the newest in a collection of such incidents, together with at Covid centres in Gujarat. After each such incident, there are guarantees of motion. Families who misplaced their newborns will hope that this time, it’ll go previous lip-service.

In May 2020, the Bhandara district authorities had despatched the proposal to the state authorities for a hearth system on the hospital, with extinguishers, sprinklers, hose reel, and hearth alarm. The proposal was accepted by Deputy Director, Health, Nagpur, and forwarded to Dr Sadhana Tayade, Director, Directorate of Health Services (DHS). Tayade didn’t reply to calls or textual content messages over the delay in approval of the proposal.
Dr Nitin Ambadekar, in-charge of district hospitals, DHS, instructed The Sunday Express, “After technical corrections, it will be approved. We have sent it back with certain corrections.”

State Health Minister Rajesh Tope mentioned he didn’t find out about this proposal, however would get it accepted now. He additionally sought responsible the earlier BJP authorities, saying it had inaugurated the SNCU with out a hearth audit. “The civil surgeon wrote to the National Institute of Fire Safety Engineering in Nagpur twice for a fire audit. But the institute did not conduct it. The previous government should not have started the SNCU without complying with fire norms,” he mentioned.
A district-level official, requesting anonymity, mentioned the hospital’s wiring system additionally wanted repairs, and so they had written concerning this to the Public Works Department. “The request remains pending,” the official mentioned.
Being a brand new development, the SNCU’s wiring and fixtures, nevertheless, had been in good situation — one of many necessities of National Health Mission. Dr Archana Patil, DHS Director of Family Planning, mentioned this was why it was unclear how the hearth had unfold so shortly within the unit.
The final upkeep audit of the SNCU was performed on September 2, 2020, by a personal firm referred to as Faber Sindoori Management Services. This audit doesn’t cowl hearth security. Patil mentioned they’d requested for the audit report back to assess if there have been any issues in tools.
Against the state authorities norms of three nurses per 16 beds in an SNCU, the Bhandara hospital had two nurses on obligation Saturday night time attending to the 17 youngsters within the 36-bed ward. The hospital has 35 posts for nurses, of which 28 positions are stuffed. Of the eight posts for SNCU docs, 5 are vacant.
A senior district-level official mentioned the issue had turn into extra acute within the Covid-19 pandemic. “We added 300 isolation beds to the hospital but could not appoint enough staff.”
Ramaswamy mentioned, “I have directed state officials to submit a report. I cannot comment on whether there was shortage of nurses or lack of equipment maintenance.”