Fire probe panel not ready to accept 'Sishu Bhawan' claim

'Sishu Bhawan' authorities had claimed that in-house fire control measures were used to douse the flame immediately after it was noticed in the hospital yesterday, but the technical committee entrusted to probe the mishap is unwilling to accept it.
"Had the in-house measures put to use, the flame would have been brought under control within one minute limiting the damage it caused," State Chief Fire Officer Sukant Sethy said as the committee began the probe today.
He said the hospital staff are not trained properly to handle the fire extinguishers installed and how to react at the time of the urgent situation.

It was alleged that the staff of the newborn ward, which was completely gutted, rushed out of the ward in panic seeing the fire without bothering to douse the flame or making provisions to shift the infant patients safely.
Similarly, the electrical engineers have questioned the use of poor quality electric bulbs of high wattage as warmers for the newborn babies. "Although electrical wirings in the hospital seem to be flawless, use of materials of poor quality is believed to have caused the mishap," said Roads & Buildings executive engineer Subash Acharya.
Hospital superintendent Saroj Satpathy said he will wait for the final findings and report of the technical committee.

Fire broke out in the newborn ward of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Post Graduate Institute of Paediatrics, popularly known as 'Sishu Bhavan', yesterday morning in which a newborn has sustained burn injuries.
Cuttack district Collector ordered the probe into the mishap by technical committee asking it to submit its report within seven days.