3P'S OF FIRE SAFETY - PREVENTION, PRE-EMPTING AND PUNISHMENT

Fire accidents are commonplace, if only because there is little or no repercussions for those directly or indirectly responsible.  But every once in a while, those in position of power wake up and smell the coffee and then there’s hell to play.

A day after a massive fire broke out at a private hospital in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur district on 2nd August,2022 strict action was taken against 51 private hospitals in the city. Immediate orders were issued to shift the patients admitted to New Life Multispecialty hospital to other hospitals.

The city's health department banned admission of new patients into the hospitals and nursing homes forthwith. The orders were issued by the Chief Medical Health Officer (CMHO), Dr. Ratnesh Kuraria in the wake of the incident.

Documents related to fulfilling the required criteria under the Hospital Establishment Act were sought from all the hospitals.

A case was registered against the four directors of the hospital - Dr. Nishant Gupta, Dr. Suresh Patel, Dr. Sanjay Patel and Dr. Sanjay Soni - along with other associates under several sections of the Indian Penal Code.

Jabalpur Assistant Superintendent of Police Sanjay Agarwal later told presspersons that all the four directors were absconding and the police had formed teams to nab them.