Anantnag, Nov 17: The recent tragic fire incident at Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi hospital has highlighted several shortcomings in fire safety at south Kashmir’s lone Maternity and Child Care Hospital (MCCH) in Anantnag. The devastating fire at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Maharani Laxmibai Medical College, Jhansi, on Friday night claimed the lives of 10 newborns and injured 17 others. Preliminary investigations indicate the cause was an electric short circuit.
India Today report revealed that the NICU had expired fire extinguishers and malfunctioning safety alarms that delayed evacuation efforts. MCCH Highly Vulnerable to Jhansi-like Incidents The situation is similarly dire at Anantnag’s MCCH, the associated hospital of Government Medical College (GMC) Anantnag, which is located in the congested Sherbagh area. Despite being declared unsafe by the Fire and Emergency Services back in 2014, the hospital lacks adequate fire safety mechanisms.
In the past two months, there have been two incidents of electrical short circuits in the NICU, though fortunately, these did not escalate. “One incident occurred just last week,” a medico confirmed. Following these alarming incidents, the hospital authorities have urgently appealed to the government to have fire safety measures in place.
“Yes we have already written to the government about the lack of safety measures at MCCH,” Principal GMC Anantnag, Dr Rukhsana Najeeb said. She said that the college has allocated Rs.
