THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The unexpected fire that erupted at a private hospital in Kolkata resulting in the death of more than 90 people was a warning call for many health care institutions in the state.Learning from the Kolkata tragedy, hospital managements in the city have alerted their staff and modernised their equipment to ensure foolproof disaster prevention measures and have charted out clear-cut plans to ward off any disaster from happening.The Ananthapuri Hospital in the city claims that it has lined up the best fire preventive and emergency evacuation systems. A Sivanandan, director of the hospital, said that no compromise can be made on the safety of the patients."An effective system is being maintained to ensure that every sort of disaster, including a fire outbreak or short-circuit in the electricity supply lines, can be prevented,” he said.Sivanandan said that the preliminary measures adopted to detect any potential mishap from occurring include regularly conducting routine checks. This is done on a daily basis.The initial effort taken by the management in creating an awareness among the nursing staff is by giving them training in how to deal with a disaster. Safety is an important part of the syllabus for the nursing trainees. Physiotherapists and the nursing staff are trained in safely shifting patients who are admitted to intensive care wards.Identical measures are also being implemented at KIMS Hospital, say its authorities. Here, a special department, ‘Health safety environment’, has been constituted to deal with safety and disaster management.The safety wing attached with the main department oversees mock drills and conducts training regimen for the staff members. Fire-extinguishers are installed at strategic locations.Anoop M Nair, manager of the department, said that being one of the biggest private hospitals in the state, KIMS checks every aspect of safety management. Sophisticated fire-detecting sensors have been recently installed in every room of the hospital. ”That project alone cost ` One crore,” he said.The administration has also made it mandatory for all staff members of the hospital to receive real-time training in fire-fighting. Mock drills are also conducted once a while to check the preparedness of the system in countering disasters, he said.
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