News Analysis India

Tag: Virar Hospital fire

  • Fire tragedy: Virar hospital’s CEO, CAO arrested

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Police on Sunday arrested the chief executive officer and the chief administrative officer of a Palghar-based hospital where a fire killed 15 COVID-19 patients two days back, an official said.

    After their arrest, the hospital’s CEO, Dr Dilip Bastimal Shah (56), and CAO Dr Shailesh Dharmadev Pathak (47) were produced before a Vasai court which remanded them in police custody for one day, he said.

    They were held for alleged negligence and violation of the fire safety norms, the official from the Mira-Bhayander Vasai-Virar police’s crime branch said.

    The blaze erupted on Friday in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) located on the second floor of the four-storey Vijay Vallabh Hospital at Virar in Maharashtra’s Palghar district, about 70 km from here.

    The hospital’s CEO and the CAO have been booked under Indian Penal Code Sections 304 (culpable homicide but not amounting to murder), 337 and 338 (both dealing with rash or negligent act endangering human life), the official said.

    During a probe into the incident, the police found the hospital allegedly violated several norms and guidelines of the state government and the Supreme Court, he said.

    The hospital failed to get its fire audit conducted for the current year and also did not have the fire department’s No Objection Certificate (NOC), he said.

    “The medical facility also allegedly violated several precautionary safety measures.

    If they had a proper fire- fighting mechanism, such a big tragedy would not have occurred,” the official said.

    He said the police are waiting for the electric audit and fire audit reports and more arrests may happen after that.

    There were 83 patients in the hospital, 17 of them in the ICU when the fire broke out after a blast in the AC unit shortly after 3 am.

    It was extinguished at 5.20 am, an official earlier said.

    Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had directed the local administration to conduct a probe into the cause of the blaze and also announced an assistance of Rs 5 lakh to the families of each deceased.

     

  • Maharashtra fire: Hospital directors booked for culpable homicide

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: After 15 patients were killed in a fire in the early hours of Friday in a hospital in Virar in Palghar district, its directors and management were booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and other offences, police said.

    The blaze erupted in the ICU located on the second floor of the four-storeyed Vijay Vallabh Hospital, a private facility, shortly after 3 am on Friday.

    A case was registered under sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 337 and 338 (both dealing with rash or negligent act endangering human life) and 38 (acts done by several people in furtherance of common intention) of IPC, a Virar police station official said.

  • 14 COVID-19 patients die in hospital fire in Maharashtra’s Palghar district

    By PTI
    VIRAR: Fourteen COVID-19 patients died after a fire broke out at the intensive care unit of a private hospital in Palghar district of Maharashtra on Friday, police said.

    While 13 were charred to death in the ICU, one patient died while being taken to another hospital, an official said.

    There were 83 patients in the hospital, 17 of them in the ICU when the fire broke out after a blast in the AC unit, an official said.

    TV visuals showed the smoke-filled ICU in a disarray after the blaze, with the ceiling falling off in some places, beds and other furniture strewn around and kin of the deceased wailing outside the hospital.

    The fire broke out in the ICU located on the second floor of the four-storeyed Vijay Vallabh Hospital at Virar shortly after 3 am, an official said.

    It was extinguished at 5.20 am, he added.

    The other patients in the hospital were not affected as the damage was confined to the ICU, the official said.

    Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray expressed grief over the tragedy and directed the local administration to probe the cause of the blaze.

    Thackeray also announced an assistance of Rs five lakh to the families of each deceased.

    “The fire at a COVID-19 hospital in Virar is tragic.

    Condolences to those who lost their loved ones.

    May the injured recover soon,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.

    “PM@narendramodi has approved an ex-gratia of Rs.2 lakh each from PMNRF for the next of kin of those who have lost their lives due to the hospital fire in Virar, Maharashtra. Rs.50,000 would be given to those seriously injured,” the PMO tweeted.

    Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil has asked the state Director General of Police to conduct an in-depth probe into the fire, an official said.

    A hospital employee said the AC system was not working since Thursday afternoon and some repair work was going on.

    Relatives of some victims alleged that the hospital staffers were asleep when the blaze broke out and there was nobody to help the patients come out of the ICU.

    They also claimed that the hospital did not fulfill fire safety norms.

    The tragedy comes two days after 22 COVID-19 patients who were either on ventilator or oxygen support, suffocated to death when their oxygen supply stopped suddenly due to a malfunction in the main storage at a civic hospital in Nashik.

    A fire broke out in Mumbai’s Dreams Mall, which housed a Covid-designated hospital, in the intervening night of March 25-26.

    The fire, which raged for over 40 hours, claimed nine lives, including those of patients on ventilator support.

    Ten infants died in a fire at a special newborn care unit of the Bhandara district hospital in the state on January 9.

    Seventeen infants, aged one to three months, were in the ward at the time of the tragedy.

    In October last year, two patients died while being shifted after a fire broke out at a private hospital in Mumbai’s Mulund suburb.

  • Virar fire tragedy no national news, says Tope; later clarifies

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Friday said the fire incident at a private hospital in Virar, which killed 13 COVID-19 patients, was “not a national news”.

    However, the minister later made it clear that earlier in the day when he was speaking to reporters about the issues he would be discussing with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he was suddenly asked a question related to the Virar fire tragedy, to which he had responded.

    Talking to reporters earlier in the day, Tope said, “We will be speaking about oxygen, Remdesivir. The Virar incident though is not a national news.”

    “We will provide all the support and financial assistance to the families of victims who died in the accident. The way we have extended similar help to the Nashik victims, we will do it here as well,” he said when asked about the incident.

    “The municipal corporation and the state government will extend Rs five lakh each to the families of victims in the Virar fire accident. There will be fire audit as well as structural and electrical audits of the hospital,” the health minister said.

    “If the audits were not conducted properly, the implementing persons will face strict action. We will seek an in-depth report on the incident in the next 10 days. Those persons responsible will definitely face legal action,” he said.

    Later, while speaking to reporters, Tope appealed that his comments about the Virar tragedy should not be distorted and taken out of context.

    “I was asked about what topics I will be discussing with PM Narendra Modi. It was already decided that oxygen supply, Remdesivir and vaccine availability will be the topics of discussion from the state side.

    As I was completing my answer, I was interrupted by the question related to Virar fire tragedy.

    ” “The Maharastra government has taken all the necessary decisions regarding the incident, including announcement of inquiry, hence I was explaining this part.

    Everyone has seen my work, even when there were some personal losses, I never shied away from my duty,” he said.

    He was apparently referring to the death of his mother in August last year, who was bed-ridden for several months when Maharashtra was heading towards its first peak of COVID- 19 cases.

    “It is not possible that one person is sensitive one day and insensitive the next day. I should be judged on my track record of the last so many months,” he said.

  • Maharashtra DGP asked to probe Virar hospital fire: Home minister Walse Patil 

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil on Friday said he has asked the state Director General of Police (DGP) to conduct an in-depth probe into the fire at a hospital in Virar, which claimed the lives of 13 coronavirus patients.

    The blaze erupted in the ICU located on the second floor of the four-storeyed Vijay Vallabh Hospital, a private facility, at Virar in Palghar district shortly after 3 am on Friday.

    In a tweet, Walse Patil said the fire incident, which claimed the lives of 13 COVID-19 patients, was “extremely unfortunate and painful”.

    “The DGP has been directed to conduct an in-depth probe into the incident,” the minister said.

     

  • ‘Not a national news’: Maharashtra Health Minister on death of 13 COVID patients in Virar hospital fire

    By ANI
    MUMBAI: Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Friday said that the fire incident at Vijay Vallabh COVID care hospital in the Virar area of Maharashtra’s Palghar district in which 13 patients loss their lives is ‘not national news’.

    “In today’s meeting with the PM, we will talk about Oxygen, Remdesivir, an adequate quantity of vaccines for the State…also the Virar fire incident, it is not national news. State govt will provide financial assistance to those affected,” Rajesh Tope said while talking to the media.

    “The state government will provide financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh and the Mahanagar Palika will also provide Rs 5 lakhs,” the minister said.

    Tope further said that there will a detailed investigation into the matter and the culprits will be punished.

    “This incident is very unfortunate. Condolences to those who lost their loved ones,” Tope added.

    At least 13 patients died on Friday after a fire broke out at an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the COVID hospital.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences on the loss of lives in the fire incident at a COVID-19 hospital in the Virar area of Maharashtra’s Palghar district.

    The Prime Minister also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) for kin of the deceased in the incident.

    “The fire at a COVID-19 hospital in Virar is tragic. Condolences to those who lost their loved ones. May the injured recover soon,” the Prime Minister tweeted.

    “PM Narendra Modi has approved an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each from PMNRF for the next of kin of those who have lost their lives due to the hospital fire in Virar, Maharashtra. Rs 50,000 would be given to those seriously injured,” the Prime Minister’s Office tweeted.

    The incident took place around 3:30 am on the second floor of the facility, the Corona Control Room, Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation informed. Three fire tenders of the Virar Fire Brigade reached the spot to douse the fire. It was extinguished by 5:20 am.

    Other COVID patients have been shifted to other hospitals.

    Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has ordered an inquiry into the fire incident and also directed the administration to immediately inquire whether the fire safety measures at the hospital were adequate or not.

  • Maharashtra hospital fire: AC was not working since Thursday, says staffer

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: An employee of the private hospital in Maharashtra’s Palghar district, where 13 COVID-19 patients died in a fire after a blast in an air conditioning unit, said the AC system there was not working since Thursday afternoon and some repair work was going on.

    The fire broke out in the intensive care unit on the second floor of the four-storeyed Vijay Vallabh Hospital at Virar in the early hours of Friday, in which five women and eight men died.

    There were 90 patients in the hospital, 18 of them in the ICU, when the fire broke out after a blast in the AC unit, an official has said.

    The hospital employee said the facility had been facing some problem with its AC system in the COVID-19 ward since Thursday afternoon.

    “When I went to the hospital yesterday afternoon, the air conditioner was not working in the COVID-19 ward of the hospital. I saw that some repair work was going on at that time as AC panels were removed,” Supriya Deshmukh, a staffer at the hospital told a regional news channel.

    “Meanwhile, the hospital set up some fans as a temporary arrangement. After finishing my work and I returned home late in the evening,” she said.

    Meanwhile, the relatives of the COVID-19 patients who died in the incident, complained about the hospital’s alleged mismanagement to Shiv Sena leader and state minister Eknath Shinde, when he went to take stock of the situation.

    The relatives told him that the hospital was understaffed, due to which proper attention was given to the patients.

    Shinde told them that appropriate action would be taken.

  • 14 COVID-19 patients die in hospital fire in Maharashtra’s Palghar district

    By PTI
    VIRAR: Fourteen COVID-19 patients died after a fire broke out at the intensive care unit of a private hospital in Palghar district of Maharashtra on Friday, police said.

    While 13 were charred to death in the ICU, one patient died while being taken to another hospital, an official said.

    There were 83 patients in the hospital, 17 of them in the ICU when the fire broke out after a blast in the AC unit, an official said.

    TV visuals showed the smoke-filled ICU in a disarray after the blaze, with the ceiling falling off in some places, beds and other furniture strewn around and kin of the deceased wailing outside the hospital.

    The fire broke out in the ICU located on the second floor of the four-storeyed Vijay Vallabh Hospital at Virar shortly after 3 am, an official said.

    It was extinguished at 5.20 am, he added.

    The other patients in the hospital were not affected as the damage was confined to the ICU, the official said.

    Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray expressed grief over the tragedy and directed the local administration to probe the cause of the blaze.

    Thackeray also announced an assistance of Rs five lakh to the families of each deceased.

    “The fire at a COVID-19 hospital in Virar is tragic.

    Condolences to those who lost their loved ones.

    May the injured recover soon,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.

    “PM@narendramodi has approved an ex-gratia of Rs.2 lakh each from PMNRF for the next of kin of those who have lost their lives due to the hospital fire in Virar, Maharashtra. Rs.50,000 would be given to those seriously injured,” the PMO tweeted.

    Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil has asked the state Director General of Police to conduct an in-depth probe into the fire, an official said.

    A hospital employee said the AC system was not working since Thursday afternoon and some repair work was going on.

    Relatives of some victims alleged that the hospital staffers were asleep when the blaze broke out and there was nobody to help the patients come out of the ICU.

    They also claimed that the hospital did not fulfill fire safety norms.

    The tragedy comes two days after 22 COVID-19 patients who were either on ventilator or oxygen support, suffocated to death when their oxygen supply stopped suddenly due to a malfunction in the main storage at a civic hospital in Nashik.

    A fire broke out in Mumbai’s Dreams Mall, which housed a Covid-designated hospital, in the intervening night of March 25-26.

    The fire, which raged for over 40 hours, claimed nine lives, including those of patients on ventilator support.

    Ten infants died in a fire at a special newborn care unit of the Bhandara district hospital in the state on January 9.

    Seventeen infants, aged one to three months, were in the ward at the time of the tragedy.

    In October last year, two patients died while being shifted after a fire broke out at a private hospital in Mumbai’s Mulund suburb.