A Nandaram-type disaster awaits the state-run hospitals. Not one hospital in the city has the mandatory emergency exits. High-risk zones (transformer rooms and stores) are housed in the same buildings as indoor wards, while fire extinguishers and alarms are few and far between. Metro runs a reality check...

SSKM

BEDS: 1,650.

ABSENT: Fire alarms and emergency exits; fire extinguishers in the wards and staircases; disaster-management cell; trained firefighters.

PRESENT: A fire extinguisher at the entrance to each building. A small water body is the sole source of water on campus to battle a blaze.

Fire-fighting preparedness: Medical superintendent Ashok Kumar Ghosh admitted that fire-safety measures need to be upgraded. “We have approached the public works and fire services departments for the upgrade. Gas burners in the kitchen have been replaced with clay ovens, though they are more polluting.”

RISK: Oxygen cylinders are stacked in the cardio-thoracic ward with no safety equipment nearby.

DOCTORSPEAK: “Even the operating theatres are not equipped to fight a fire.”

MEDICAL COLLEGE HOSPITAL

BEDS: 1,450.

ABSENT: Emergency exits and fire alarms in the wards, adequate fire-safety devices in the operating theatres.

PRESENT: A few fire extinguishers.

Fire-fighting preparedness: Medical superintendent Anup Roy said: “A disaster-management committee was set up a few years ago but no fire drill has yet been conducted. We have tried to make our canteens safe and installed fire alarms in the operating theatres.”

RISK: Old electric wires hang all over David Hare building.

DOCTORSPEAK: During a blaze, firemen can source water from the adjacent College Square tank.

CALCUTTA NATIONAL MEDICAL COLLEGE

BEDS:1,250 (approx.)

ABSENT: Fire alarms, emergency exits and underground water reservoir (the fire services department has recommended that the hospital, situated in a crowded locality, should have an underground reservoir with a capacity of one lakh litres and with a provision to replenish 2,000 litres a minute).

PRESENT: A lone extinguisher on the ground floor of the gynaecology and obstetrics department, with a sand bucket beneath it. The bucket doubles as dustbin.

RISK: A makeshift kitchen with an electric heater operates in the neurology ward. A heater is used in the urology ward, too. A room on the top floor of Raja Ram Mohan Block houses the lift machinery. A board outside reads “Danger 480 Volts”. Two electric heaters are used in the room for cooking, but there is an extinguisher inside.

DOCTORSPEAK:Medical superintendent Mrityunjay Mukhopadhyay said: “The hospital doesn’t have a fire management cell. But extinguishers have been installed in the open canteen, emergency ward and the operating theatres. The wards, too, should have similar measures.” On the use of electric heaters, he said: “Rules are often not enforced”.

NIL RATAN SIRCAR HOSPITAL

BEDS:1,890.

ABSENT: Extinguishers in three of the four stores (deputy superintendent Surendranath Guchhait said each has at least one) and several wards (including paediatrics, medicine and radiology).

PRESENT: A water body is the sole source of water on campus for firemen.

RISKS: High-tension electric wires run along the ground floor of the radiology department. Seven cylinders are stored in the patients’ kitchen, which has no fire-safety devices. Medicine store is located in the basement, violating safety norms.

STAFFSPEAK: “The oxygen store has asked for extinguishers but the authorities are not completing the formalities,” said an official. More than 11 cylinders are kept in the store, which remains unmanned from 5.30pm to 9.30am.

OFFICIALSPEAK: Fire services director D.P. Biswas said: “All our government hospitals are in fire-prone areas. The risk is maximum for RG Kar hospital, as it is a multi-storeyed building. The National Building Code of India states that hospitals should not be taller than 30 metres... After the SSKM canteen fire in 2007, we have asked the state-run hospitals to implement a series of fire-safety measures. But none has responded.”

The director of health services, Sanchita Bakshi, said: “We have spoken to the fire department and are in the process of upgrading the safety measures in hospitals. A detailed plan has been worked out.”