Delhi children's hospital fire: NCPCR deploys team to investigate

In a post on X, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights Chairperson (NCPCR) Priyank Kanoongo said the commission has taken cognisance of the fire incident and the newborns' deaths.

New Delhi: The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has said that the fire tragedy at the New Born Baby Care Hospital occurred due to the negligence of authorities, and directed the Delhi Chief Secretary as well as the Commissioner of Police to take appropriate action against the Delhi government’s Department of Health services, Department of Fire Services, Municipal Authorities, District Administration, and State Medical Council. 

In a letter to the two senior officials, the NCPCR said that it sent a team to the hospital and said that during its visit, its team observed that in the nursing home there was no emergency exit.

“Having no emergency exit in a medical health care facility is a serious violation of the National Building Code of India, 2016. It was also observed that no fire extinguishers, emergency fire alarm were working and even no automatic water sprinkler system was functional, this is a violation of the National Building Code of India, 2016 (Fire and life safety) and the guidelines of National Disaster Authority,” the letter read.

The NCPCR further said that authorities have not given the NCPCR copies of documents that it has. This includes a copy of the No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the fire department, of the license of the Nursing Home under the relevant law, copy of registration certificate of the nursing home, list of staff appointed with their qualification, sanctioned capacity of NICU bed incubators, copy of FIR is registered, copy of postmortem report, copy of license of refilling of oxygen unit. 

“The team was informed that at the time of fire incid-ence, Iocals of the area reported the incident rather than the hospital staff. It seems that staff of the nursing home was not trained in the handling of such emergency situations,” the NCPCR further said.