National

Delhi govt asks private, state-run hospitals to submit fire audit report by June 8: Bharadwaj

News On Time Desk 28 May 2024

In the aftermath of a blaze at a neonatal hospital that killed six newborns, the Delhi government has issued directions to all private and state-run hospitals to complete a fire audit and submit a compliance report by June 8, Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said on Monday.

Bharadwaj said the owner of the hospital in east Delhi’s Vivek Vihar area was also running another nursing home “illegally” at Paschimpuri and a case was registered against him.

He had called for a meeting to discuss the fire incident at the medical centre.

Initially, police had said seven newborns were killed in the blaze but after the autopsy, it has been found that one of the babies had died hours before the fire broke out.

Bharadwaj said it has been learnt that oxygen refilling was being carried out at the hospital, and added that it would be looked into whether the facility was doing it on its own or some other agency was involved.

He stressed that it is illegal for a hospital to have a refilling system since it can lead to fire.