Ensure safety measures in hospitals

The blaze that devastated the sole orthopaedic hospital of Kashmir—Bone and Joint hospital, located in Barzulla area of Srinagar has exposed the tall claims of the administration with regard to the fire safety audit of the government run hospitals. Being a sole orthopaedic hospital, the government should have ensured proper fire safety audit and other related arrangements at the hospital to ensure that the hospital in case of any fire incident, would be protected well on time. However, the huge damage caused to the building as well as equipment could have been prevented in case there would have proper arrangements at the hospital. Nonetheless, all praise goes to the locals as well as the hospital administration for ensuring timely evacuation of the patients admitted at the hospital, who took early and immediate measures that prevented loss of lives or injury during the incident. There are several reports that claim the people from downtown areas also reached the hospital on time and helped the officials in evacuating people and saving precious lives. Moreover, the concerned police station including the Station House Officer (SHO) too showed bravery by going deep inside to ensure that nobody was stuck in the fire engulfed building. It was all because of these unsung heroes that the loss of life and injury to the patients or attendants was prevented during the incident. The situation could have been worse in case these unsung heroes would not have swung into action on time. Therefore, there is a need to ensure that safety measures are in place in all the hospitals across Jammu and Kashmir so that such incidents are prevented well on time in the future and the cause of fire at B&J hospital must be investigated thoroughly so that the facts are made public and such incidents are not repeated in the future.