<p>Fire tragedies are always heart-rending. They are all the more so when they happen at a hospital as patients are often not in a condition to even attempt to escape the blaze. In the early hours of Wednesday, a fire broke out in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a private hospital in Mumbra near Mumbai. Four patients lost their lives. Maharashtra, which is the epicentre of India’s Covid-19 pandemic, has suffered several fire tragedies this year. Just a few days before the Mumbra tragedy, a blaze at a Covid-19 hospital in Maharashtra’s Palghar district claimed the lives of 15 patients. In March, a Covid-designated hospital in a Mumbai mall went up in flames, leaving nine people dead. Some of them were on ventilator support. The most heartbreaking of the fire-tragedies in Maharashtra this year was the one at the Bhandara district hospital in January. Ten infants, some of them just a few hours old, died in a fire that swept through the hospital’s Sick Newborn Care Unit. Other states have suffered hospital fire tragedies too. In August last year, a fire broke out at a private hospital in Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh, killing 10 Covid-19 patients.</p>.<p> Preliminary investigations reveal that the fire at the Mumbra hospital was triggered by a short circuit. A detailed probe must look into why the short circuit happened. Did the builder use cheap material to cut costs? Were fire safety regulations been put in place? Did hospital authorities secure the required licenses? Did civic authorities issue the no-objection certificate after an inspection of the site? Hospitals are particularly vulnerable to fires as they store oxygen. Oxygen is also piped into rooms and ICUs. So, a spark from a short circuit is enough to set off a conflagration.</p>.<p>Covid-related chaos at hospitals could have contributed to some of the fire tragedies in hospitals in recent months. Staff are overworked, regular maintenance of equipment and wiring is not being done and so on. However, these are the superficial reasons for the fire tragedies. Underlying are more serious issues that need to be addressed now, even if we are overwhelmed by the pandemic. Many hotels, entertainment halls and other facilities are being converted into hospitals because of the pandemic. The hospital at Vijayawada, for instance, was a hotel previously and was converted after the outbreak of the pandemic. Are these facilities that have turned into hospitals almost overnight built and fitted to function as hospitals? We need to be more careful in our choice of buildings to turn into hospitals. </p>
<p>Fire tragedies are always heart-rending. They are all the more so when they happen at a hospital as patients are often not in a condition to even attempt to escape the blaze. In the early hours of Wednesday, a fire broke out in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a private hospital in Mumbra near Mumbai. Four patients lost their lives. Maharashtra, which is the epicentre of India’s Covid-19 pandemic, has suffered several fire tragedies this year. Just a few days before the Mumbra tragedy, a blaze at a Covid-19 hospital in Maharashtra’s Palghar district claimed the lives of 15 patients. In March, a Covid-designated hospital in a Mumbai mall went up in flames, leaving nine people dead. Some of them were on ventilator support. The most heartbreaking of the fire-tragedies in Maharashtra this year was the one at the Bhandara district hospital in January. Ten infants, some of them just a few hours old, died in a fire that swept through the hospital’s Sick Newborn Care Unit. Other states have suffered hospital fire tragedies too. In August last year, a fire broke out at a private hospital in Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh, killing 10 Covid-19 patients.</p>.<p> Preliminary investigations reveal that the fire at the Mumbra hospital was triggered by a short circuit. A detailed probe must look into why the short circuit happened. Did the builder use cheap material to cut costs? Were fire safety regulations been put in place? Did hospital authorities secure the required licenses? Did civic authorities issue the no-objection certificate after an inspection of the site? Hospitals are particularly vulnerable to fires as they store oxygen. Oxygen is also piped into rooms and ICUs. So, a spark from a short circuit is enough to set off a conflagration.</p>.<p>Covid-related chaos at hospitals could have contributed to some of the fire tragedies in hospitals in recent months. Staff are overworked, regular maintenance of equipment and wiring is not being done and so on. However, these are the superficial reasons for the fire tragedies. Underlying are more serious issues that need to be addressed now, even if we are overwhelmed by the pandemic. Many hotels, entertainment halls and other facilities are being converted into hospitals because of the pandemic. The hospital at Vijayawada, for instance, was a hotel previously and was converted after the outbreak of the pandemic. Are these facilities that have turned into hospitals almost overnight built and fitted to function as hospitals? We need to be more careful in our choice of buildings to turn into hospitals. </p>
