Noida hospital fire: NHRC issues notice to UP government

New Delhi (India), Feb 8 (ANI): The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government calling for a detailed report within 6 weeks, in the massive fire which broke out inside the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Metro Hospital and Heart Institute in Sector-12, Noida, Gautam Budh Nagar on Thursday. The notice has been issued to Chief Secretary of the State.

A fire broke out at the hospital on Thursday morning. No casualties were reported in the fire however six fire tenders were engaged in rescue operations.

Reportedly, 66 patients were admitted in the hospital out of which 16 were in the ICU, when the fire broke out. No one was seriously injured and all the patients were safely evacuated. Most of them were transferred to the Sector-11 branch of the hospital, which is about 500 meters away.

NHRC cited the media reports which state that the hospital has been running without a fire safety license. Reportedly, the license was revoked in mid-2018 but there was an issue regarding the age of the hospital and the "No Objection Certificate" (NOC) was not given by the Fire Department.

NHRC has described the incident as grave and observed that several similar incidents have occurred in the past, in different parts of the country, where many human lives were lost.

"Only the critically ill patients are kept in the ICU of the hospitals. In case of fire breaks out in such a facility, there are more chances of loss of human lives as the patients are not in a position to move at their own. It becomes strict responsibility of the hospital administration to take utmost care that the right to life of the patients, admitted in the hospital, is not violated. It is also obligatory on the part of the authorities concerned to ensure strict implementation of the relevant guidelines," stated NHRC. (ANI)

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