50 healthcare facilities operating without Fire NOC in GB Nagar

NOIDA: Nearly 50 big and small private hospitals, nursing homes, healthcare facilities, among others, in Gautam Budh Nagar district have been found to be operating without a fire no-objection certificate (NOC), officials said on Monday, adding that other facilities lacked proper fire safety measures.

The revelations came during a fire department inspection of existing fire safety norms in the district, a day after a tragic fire incident at a neighbouring Delhi hospital on late Saturday that left six infants burnt to death, triggering widespread sense of shock and condemnation.

Meanwhile, the Indian Medical Association (Noida chapter) has set up a committee comprising fire experts and doctors to conduct inspections of various medical premises for non-adherence of fire safety guidelines.

“It has come to the fore that around 50 big and small hospitals, nursing homes, etc, across the district are operating either without acquiring a no-objection certificate from fire department,” said chief fire officer (Gautam Budh Nagar), Pradeep Kumar Chaubey.

The identified hospitals and nursing homes not adhering to the guidelines of fire department are private in nature and mostly located in the outer areas of the Noida and Greater Noida, he added.

According to the information from health department of Gautam Budh Nagar, there are around 450 registered big and small health care facilities including big and small government and private hospitals, nursing homes, laboratories, diagnostic centres, among others, across the district.

Of these, there 188 facilities that are operating as hospitals having accommodation for patients.

Notably, a fire NOC has to be mandatorily obtained by commercial, residential, non-residential, industrial, government offices/departments, among other establishments, from the fire department to comply with the requirements of fire safety regulations.

The NOC is issued by the authority only after conducting thorough inspections of the place and ensuring the premises complies with laws related to fire safety.

“Establishments measuring 15 metre high and 500 square metre wide are exempted from obtaining a fire NOC. However, it is mandatory for such establishments to have proper fire safety measures in place, such as emergency alarm, fire extinguishers, fire exits, among others things,” the officer informed.

According to Dr Chandan Soni, deputy chief medical officer, Noida, eighteen of the identified hospitals have reapplied for the fire NOCs while licenses of nine others, who failed to reapply, have been cancelled.

“There are few other hospitals where work of installing fire safety equipment, among other services, is currently under process. Officials concerning have been apprised and informed to check with the facilities not-complying yet operating,” the official said.

President, Indian Medical Association (Noida), Sunil Awana said that they have taken cognisance of the issue and asked the association to get the issues addressed.

“Besides, we have formed a five-member committee comprising fire experts and doctors who will be conducting inspections of various medical premises to check for non-adherence of fire guidelines across the district,” he added.

Meanwhile, inspections are currently underway across the district to identify more establishments operating while not adhering to the guidelines of fire safety, said fire department officials.