Fire at COVID-19 care centre:Govt panels launch probe

A team also visited Swarna Heights, another hotel leased by Ramesh Hospitals for a second Covid Care Centre in the city, and inspected the facilities. Joint Collector (Development) Sivasankar Lotheti, who is heading a committee constituted by the Krishna district Collector, conducted an investigation on the lapses, if any, on part of the hospital management in respect of safety norms.

Amaravati, Aug 10 (PTI): A day after the fire mishap that left nine COVID-19 patients and another cured person dead in Vijayawada,official panels formed by the state government launched a swift probe into various aspects related to the incident, including non-compliance of fire safety norms by the Swarna Palace hotel management. The committees were also investigating whether the Ramesh Hospitals management, which leased the hotel and converted it into a Covid Care Centre, had requisite permission and adequate facilities to run it.

While the fire was suspected to have been a result of an electrical short circuit, presence of stocks of hand sanitisers in the reception area of the hotel literally added fuel to the fire. "The (hotel) staircase is an internal one and due to stack effect the smoke clogged the entire corridor, staircase and rooms.

This made the COVID-19 patients unable to locate a safe place and they couldnt come out, resulting in the death of 10 persons," Director General of State Disaster Response and Fire Services Md Ahsan Raza noted in a preliminary report to the government. "As we have already established, the hotel is a major fire hazard.It did not even have basic fire fighting equipment.

Though there was a rear exit staircase, it was not opened when the fire broke out. This was a major lapse on part of the management," a senior fire official pointed out. Some crucial documents and computer hard disks were confiscated as part of the investigation to obtain vital clues, a senior official involved in the process said.

The two-member committee headed by Aarogya Sri Health Care Trust CEO A Mallikarjuna visited the scene of the accident as well the Ramesh Hospitals located at two places in Vijayawada essentially to take stock of the safety measures for the patients. A team also visited Swarna Heights, another hotel leased by Ramesh Hospitals for a second Covid Care Centre in the city, and inspected the facilities.

Joint Collector (Development) Sivasankar Lotheti, who is heading a committee constituted by the Krishna district Collector, conducted an investigation on the lapses, if any, on part of the hospital management in respect of safety norms. It was also looking into charges of collection of exorbitant fee by the hospital management.

"Prima facie we learnt that the Covid-19 patients were being charged exorbitant rates running into lakhs of rupees. We are verifying all records and also recording statements of the patients," a senior official said.

As the committees have been asked to submit reports within 48 hours, they were going about their tasks at a rapid pace, roping in other officials to undertake a wider inspection of other Covid Care Centres and quarantine centres in Vijayawada and other parts of Krishna district, where about 425 people were under quarantine now. On the instructions of the Collector A Md Imtiaz, teams led by the respective tahsildars also began inspecting the other Covid Care Centres being run in hotels by some private hospitals.PTI DBV BN WELCOME BN WELCOME