Of the 30 major private hospitals in the city that were found to be violating fire safety norms in January this year, 21 hospitals are yet to take all the necessary precautions, a recent study revealed.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation issued notices to these hospitals after the Mumbai fire brigade had conducted a fire safety audit. However, in a recent study, the fire brigade has found that 21 hospitals have still not made an effort to improve their firefighting system. Among these are prominent hospitals like Jaslok, Hinduja, Lilavati,Asian Heart Institute, Nanavati, Kokilaben, Saifee, Bhatia and Seven Hills.
According to fire brigade sources, some of the shortcomings in the firefighting system included absence of sprinklers, blockades in basements, passages and refuge areas etc. The maintenance of fire equipment was also found to be insufficient.
“Of these hospitals, major violations were found in four hospitals — Seven Hills, KJ Somaiya, Kalsekar and BSES. Depending on the deficiencies, all the hospitals were given a time limit, ranging from a month to three months, to correct them. However, 21 hospitals are yet to comply with the fire safety norms,” said a senior Mumbai fire brigade official.
When asked, joint municipal commissioner S.S. Shinde said, “It’s true that some of the hospitals are yet to rectify the fire safety deficiencies. We will give them more time, and if they are still found violating fire norms, we will prosecute them.”