27 Delhi hospitals are AMRIs in waiting

If you ever have to admit your relatives and near-ones to a hospital in Delhi, please check the below list to make sure they are not trapped in the hospital, were an AMRI-like situation to arise. Twenty seven hospitals in Delhi are not equipped to tackle AMRI-like fire accidents, where 88 people were left dead in Kolkata today. As many as 16 government hospitals and 11 private hospitals in the national capital find a mention in the list of buildings which do not have a ’no objection certificate’ (NOC) from Delhi Fire Services. Reason? They have several shortcomings from the fire safety point of view. The Delhi Fire Service has brought this to the hospital’s attention through show cause notices, but they are yet to comply with the fire safety norms. [caption id=“attachment_152581” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Firefighters evacuate a patient from a AMRI in Kolkata after it caught fire, killing at least 40 people, most of them patients, officials said. Reuters”]  [/caption] On the top of the list are two centers of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences or AIIMS- National medical library and Extension Cardio Neurology center, which do not fulfill the safety norms as per the Delhi Fire Services Act (DFSA), 2007. AIIMS, one of the premier research institutes in the country, is also one of the most crowded hospitals in Delhi. It has over 10,000 OPD patients and over 2,000 patients admitted into different wards. Sources say that the AIIMS administration has constructed several private wards, including one for the Delhi CM and one Organ ward, on empty land within the hospital premises without any fire safety considerations. AIIMS also houses classes for graduate and post-graduate medical students. Trauma centers of the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital near Connaught Place, West Delhi’s Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital in Hari Nagar and the dental wing of Maulana Azad Medical College are among 16 government hospitals in Delhi which do not comply with the safety norms of the Delhi Fire Service. The DFS, in its status report, has marked all these hospitals as: ‘SC’ (shortcomings). The construction of trauma center of Ram Manohar Lohia hospital started in 2008. It is the latest block in the hospital. “It was made by the Central Public Works Department. They must have applied for the required certificates. We have everything in place,” said Dr TS Sindhu, spokesperson of the hospital. According to the DFSA, every hospital or clinic which is three storied or nine meters in height has to obtain a NOC from the Delhi Fire Services, which comes under the Delhi government. Buildings get different markings depending on the inspection from the officials of DFS. “In case the width of the staircase is less than 2 meter or the width of the corridor is less than 2.4 meter, the building has shortcomings,” said Dr TS Sharma, divisional officer, DFS. Dr YK Gupta, spokesperson of AIIMS said that he was not aware of any such lacuna. “I have to find out if that is the case,” he said. Among the private hospitals, the list includes St. Stephen’s hospital, near Tees Hazari court, Kukrej hospital and heart centre, Rajouri Garden and RG Stone Urology hospital, East of Kailash. It must be noted that the DFS keeps a record of only those hospitals and clinic which approach it for NOC, even as there may be thousand of clinics and nursing homes across the city that don’t — putting in jeopardy, the safety of patients, staff and citizens. Here’s the list of the hospitals that have not been granted a NOC from the Delhi Fire Service:  1) Trauma center, Ram Manohar Lohia hospital 2) Trauma center, Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital, Hari Nagar 3) Dental wing, Maulana Aazad Medical College 4) National medical library, AIIMS 5) Extension Cardio Neurology center, AIIMS 6) ESIC hospital, Rohini 7) Civil hospital, Rajpur road 8 ) Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar hospital, Rohini 9) Orthopedic block, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash hospital 10) Maharishi Balmiki hospital, Bawana 11) EDP cell cum referral clinic, GB Pant hospital 12) Arrhythma center, GB Pant hospital 13) Rao Tula Ram hospital, Jaffar Pur Kalan 14) 500 bedded new ward block, GTB hospital, Shahadara 15) Leprosy mission hospital 16) Acharya Shri Bhikshu government hospital, Moti Nagar 17) St. Stephen’s hospital, Tis Hazari 18) Bhagvan mahavir hospital, Rohini extension 19) Sunder Lal Jain charitable hospital, Ashok Vihar 20) Brahm Shakti hospital & research center, Budhh Vihar 21) Kalra hospital, Kirti Nagar 22) RG stone, urology & leproscopy hospital, Rajouri garden 23) RG stone, urology & leproscopy hospital, East of Kailash 24) Khandelwal hospital & urology center, Krishna Nagar 25) Premadhar research institute & hospital, Deep Vihar 26) Kukreja hospital & heart center, Rajouri garden 27) Unique hospital & research institute, Dwarka