Fire safety in Odisha govt hospitals brought to focus

Bhubaneswar: Fire safety in hospitals was brought to focus with Health Secretary Aswathy S taking a review of the fire safety position in Government hospitals from the level of community health centers to medical college and hospitals in a high-level meeting held in Lokseba Bhawan conference hall.

Looking into the present scenario, Aswathy directed to prioritize Operation Theaters (OTs), Intensive Care Units ( ICUs), Special Newborn Care Unis ( SNCUs), and heavy power load installations like CT scan/MRI machines which are more prone to electrical incidents.

She also directed to ensure proper and safe connections of the generators with electrical wiring system in the buildings to prevent any possible short circuit. 

It was decided that henceforth  fire safety structures would be inbuilt into the hospital building plans right from the beginning so that no structural retrofitting would be required for fire safety after completion of construction.

Further, the joint committees of fire officers, electrical inspectors, the engineers of roads and building department, and chief medical and public health officers were asked to complete inspection of the ground level position in Government health facilities of their respective areas; identify the fire-safety gaps; and submit detail list of the required corrective measures with estimated plans within fifteen days. The districts were asked to take all corrective measures as per the parameters of electrical safety and fire safety certificates.

 Discussions in the meeting showed that State Government provisioned around Rs.300 cr for ensuring fire safety in Government health institutions. Secretary Aswasthy assured that necessary funds would be provided to all the districts as per their corrective plan.

They were asked to complete their works in a time bound manner. Secretary also directed to continue conducting mock fire drills in coordination with local fire officers at regular intervals, conduct review meetings with different stakeholders, and ensure timely maintenance of electrical and fire safety equipment constantly. The State level joint team was advised to closely monitor progress of the works through field visits.

Mission Director Dr D Brundha, Managing Director Odisha State Medical Corporation Dr Pooma Tudu, Director Medical Education and Training Dr Santosh Kumar Mishra along with senior officers from Fire Service, Roads and Buildings, Ph.D., WATCO participated in deliberations. Special Secretary and Director Health Services Bijaya Kumar Mohapatra outlined the issues and updates for discussion.