Sans NOC, Panchkula civil hospital playing with fire
Throwing caution to wind, the 300-bed Panchkula civil hospital has been operating without a fire no-objection certificate (NOC) since 2018, raising concerns over the safety of patients, their attendants and staff. The hospital, which registers at least 4,000 patients in its outpatient department (OPD) daily, also has an emergency ward, MRI centre, dialysis centre, heart centre, a separate setup for an intensive care unit (ICU) and a child care unit. The hospital, as per sources, does not have the requisite fire-safety arrangements to get the NOC. And to put in place the requisite arrangement, the public works department (PWD) needs to be roped in as the hospital building is very old. After the recent fire at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education (PGIMER)’s Nehru block, that necessitated the late-night evacuation of over 400 patients, the Panchkula fire department had conducted checks at the civil hospital and found several shortcomings. For instance, the hospital still depends on a manual fire-fighting system and lacks modern facilities such a sprinkler system. It also does not have trained staff to handle the fire-fighting equipment and such emergiencies. The hospital was given a week’s time to rectify the problems. It may be mentioned that the fire department has already issued a notice to the hospital for operating without an NOC. Civil surgeon Mukta Kumar said, “I recently called a meeting with various departments authorities and asked them to speed up the process of getting the NOC.” She added, “I have also sent a reminder to the PWD department to get the estimate. Once that is received, we will send the same to higher authorities to get the budget approved to get the changes made that are needed to get the fire NOC.” Offices sans NOC get notices It is not just the civil hospital that is playing with fire. At least 41 government offices in the district, including the mini-secretariat, fire directorate office, civil hospital, health director office, HAFED, Shiksha Sadan, apart from some dispensaries, also don’t have the fire NOC. A recent survey by the fire department has also pointed out that many group housing societies in Panchkula also do not have the clearance. The fire department has started issuing notices to such buildings.
oustfire
Throwing caution to wind, the 300-bed Panchkula civil hospital has been operating without a fire no-objection certificate (NOC) since 2018, raising concerns over the safety of patients, their attendants and staff.
The hospital, which registers at least 4,000 patients in its outpatient department (OPD) daily, also has an emergency ward, MRI centre, dialysis centre, heart centre, a separate setup for an intensive care unit (ICU) and a child care unit.
The hospital, as per sources, does not have the requisite fire-safety arrangements to get the NOC. And to put in place the requisite arrangement, the public works department (PWD) needs to be roped in as the hospital building is very old.
After the recent fire at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education (PGIMER)’s Nehru block, that necessitated the late-night evacuation of over 400 patients, the Panchkula fire department had conducted checks at the civil hospital and found several shortcomings. For instance, the hospital still depends on a manual fire-fighting system and lacks modern facilities such a sprinkler system. It also does not have trained staff to handle the fire-fighting equipment and such emergiencies. The hospital was given a week’s time to rectify the problems.
It may be mentioned that the fire department has already issued a notice to the hospital for operating without an NOC.
Civil surgeon Mukta Kumar said, “I recently called a meeting with various departments authorities and asked them to speed up the process of getting the NOC.”
She added, “I have also sent a reminder to the PWD department to get the estimate. Once that is received, we will send the same to higher authorities to get the budget approved to get the changes made that are needed to get the fire NOC.”
Offices sans NOC get notices
It is not just the civil hospital that is playing with fire. At least 41 government offices in the district, including the mini-secretariat, fire directorate office, civil hospital, health director office, HAFED, Shiksha Sadan, apart from some dispensaries, also don’t have the fire NOC.
A recent survey by the fire department has also pointed out that many group housing societies in Panchkula also do not have the clearance. The fire department has started issuing notices to such buildings.
