Bhubaneswar/Cuttack, Oct. 19: The licence of the Sum hospital where a major fire claimed 21 lives on Monday was renewed this year by the Khurda district administration despite the fire services directorate having found loopholes in the medical facility's fire fighting infrastructure in 2013.

A letter from the district administration, accessed by The Telegraph, revealed that the licence of the hospital was renewed for the period from April 6, 2016 to April 5, 2018 on July 7 this year, ignoring the recommendation of the fire services department regarding fire fighting.

Earlier, the fire services directorate had pointed to the fact that the hospital had been operating without a valid fire safety certificate. It has also found several shortcomings in the fire control mechanism of the institution.

In its police complaint, the directorate pointed out that the hospital had not built the mandatory 25,000-litre terrace tank for fire fighting as recommended in 2013. Besides, the directorate found that the fire detection system was not functioning properly and had failed to warn patients during the mishap.

The directorate accused the hospital of not having a fire escape staircase for evacuation - which forced the hospital staff members to break the glass panes of windows to rescue patients from the ICU and the dialysis ward, where the fire broke out. It was also found that the authorities had not installed the water sprinkler system in the hospital building.

While the existing fire preventive measures of the hospital did not function during the mishap, the hospital premises lacked water sources - which forced fire tenders to make repeated trips to the Fire Training Academy, around 7km away from the hospital, to refill with water. All this despite the fact that the fire services directorate in 2013 had conducted an audit of the hospital and recommended the hospital authorities to initiate necessary measures for fire fighting.

These shortcomings were also mentioned in the FIR lodged by the fire department, which alleged negligence on part of the hospital authorities leading to the incident. Based on the complaint, the police have registered a case against the hospital under sections 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) and 285 (negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter) of the Indian Penal Code. The police have so far arrested four persons, including the hospital's medical superintendent Pushaparaj Samantasinghar and fire safety officer Santosh Das.

The directorate of medical education and training also lodged a separate complaint against the hospital at Khandagiri police station. In the complaint, it has accused the hospital authorities "of dereliction of duty and loopholes in patient management and shifting of patients".

In another develo-pment, the Cuttack district administration has decided to form a special squad to supervise the functioning of various hospitals in the city. Cuttack collector Nirmal Chandra Mishra has formed a four-member team to conduct a review of the fire safety measures in four government-run medical hospitals in the city.

The team consists of executive engineers of the general electricity department and the roads and buildings division, city fire officer and electrical officer. Official sources said the team would conduct a detailed inspection of the fire safety measures at the SCB, Acharya Harihar Regional Cancer Centre, Sishu Bhavan and the City Hospital. It will assess the fire safety measures and the condition of the existing wiring and electronic equipment in the first phase, said collector Mishra.

Mishra said the chief district medical officer had been asked to prepare a list of private hospitals and nursing homes having appropriate renewal licences and fire clearances. At present, there are 202 registered private hospitals and nursing homes in Cuttack.