20211111 Bhopal: 3 top officials removed over baby deaths in hospital fire
India Nov 11 2021 “Building” “Hospitals”
Dead : dead 1 to 4 Burnout : 1 to 29 Injured : injured 0 or unknown
Bhopal: 3 top officials removed over baby deaths in hospital fire
Updated: 2021-11-11
District collectors will review fire and electricity safety audits at all government and private hospitals in the next 10 days
BHOPAL: Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday ordered the removal of Gandhi Medical College (GMC) dean Dr Jitendra Shukla, Hamidia Hospital superintendent Dr Lokendra Dave and Kamla Nehru Hospital director K K Dubey in connection with the fire in the paediatric ICU that killed five babies on Monday night.
Sub-engineer (electrical wing) Avadhesh Bhadoriya of Capital Project Administration – the agency responsible for maintenance of the hospital – has been suspended on the chief minister’s orders. Maintenance of Kamla Nehru Hospital was taken away from CPA and handed over to PWD.
“All the facts related to the incident should be brought before the public. The government has nothing to hide in this case,” the CM said.
Chouhan directed that a separate civil wing be created in the medical education department to take care of all government medical colleges and associated hospitals. Till the time it happens, the maintenance of Kamla Nehru hospital will be done by the PWD, he said.
Earlier in the day, the CM called an emergency meeting on the fire with ministers and officials of health and medical education departments. The CM asked additional chief secretary, health, Mohd. Suleman, who was asked to probe the incident, to apprise him of his findings.
Based on his report, the CM gave the orders to remove the top officials and set up a special unit for hospital maintenance. He made it mandatory on hospitals to conduct fire and electric safety audit within a time limit, which will be reviewed by collectors.
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The systems of management and treatment will be separated so that doctors in government hospitals can focus completely on treatment. A separate cadre will be created for management and maintenance of hospitals,” the CM said, adding that there should be no duplication of agencies in management and upkeep at hospitals.
Minister for medical education Vishwas Sarang informed the decisions to the media. “To avoid recurrence of such tragic incidents, safety norms for hospital buildings will be strengthened. Oxygen pipelines have been laid recently In medical colleges, district hospitals and several private hospitals, and safety rules will be revised to reconcile this feature in the existing set-up,” the minister said.
District collectors will review fire and electricity safety audits at all government and private hospitals in the next 10 days, he said.
On the varying toll being reported, Sarang said that there were 40 children in the ward and all of them were rescued by hospital staff in his presence, but four of them died within three hours. “On the subsequent deaths, the head of the paediatrics department has given a detailed statement and it won’t be appropriate for me to speak on the issue since I am not a medical expert. Only critically ill children are kept in the SNCU ward, where the incident took place, and deaths reported subsequently might be due to illness,” he said.
Web Source: The Times of India