When apartments turn into hospitals

VISAKHAPATNAM: A number of apartment houses have been turned into hospitals and medical clinics in Visakhapatnam, making it difficult to take up firefighting operations. However, the planning wing of GVMC is yet to act against them.If there’s fire at these apartment hospitals, in many cases the fire service personnel will be unable to reach the spot immediately due to narrow roads.According to city planner D Venkata Ratnam, there are 106 private hospital buildings of below 15 metres height in the city which have not yet been inspected to see whether they conform to rules.“In the wake of the Kolkata incident, the municipal commissioner has directed the officials to inspect all those buildings. If there are irregularities they will be known once the inspection is completed,” he told Express.According to U Sarath Babu, station fire officer of GVMC’s fire prevention wing, around 60 to 70 residential and commercial buildings at various places, particularly in the zilla parishad office area and opposite King George Hospital have been converted into hospitals and medical clinics.He said the GVMC will start a joint exercise with the fire services department to assess the fire prevention and safety mechanisms at all the hospitals in the city.District fire officer SV Narasimham said as per the direction of the Supreme Court, hospitals in structurally not suitable buildings should install all the necessary fire fighting equipment.However, the managements have done little in that direction apart from arranging a few fire extinguishers, he added. He said notices have been served on violators. If the hospital managements continue to flout fire safety norms, action will be taken under relevant laws, Sarath Babu said.