Cuttack, Dec 1: The panel to probe the fire incident in Odisha’s premier child care facility ‘Sishu Bhawan’ has not agreed to the claims of the hospital authorities that in-house fire control measures were used to douse the flame immediately after it was noticed in the hospital
The panel said on Monday that had the in-house measures been put to use, the flame would have been brought under control within one minute limiting the damage it caused.
State Chief Fire Officer Sukant Sethy said, as the committee began the probe at the instruction of the District Magistrate, the hospital staff are not trained properly to handle the fire extinguishers installed and how to react at the time of the urgent situation.
It was alleged that the staff of the newborn ward, which was completely gutted, rushed out of the ward in panic seeing the fire without bothering to douse the flame or making provisions to shift the infant patients safely.
Similarly, the electrical engineers have questioned the use of poor quality electric bulbs of high wattage as warmers for the newborn babies.
Hospital superintendent Saroj Satpathy said he will wait for the final findings and report of the technical committee.
Fire broke in the newborn ward of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Post Graduate Institute of Paediatrics, popularly known as ‘Sishu Bhavan’ on Sunday morning in which a newborn sustained burn injuries.
