Jhansi Medical College fire incident: 75 minutes of investigation... five and a half hours of interrogation; this reason for the fire came to light

A four-member team from Lucknow arrived on Monday to find out the reasons behind the fire in the Special Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (SNCU) of Jhansi Maharani Laxmibai Medical College on Friday. The team examined the burnt SNCU for about 35 minutes. For 40 minutes, they talked to the family members of the newborns admitted to ward five. For about five and a half hours, statements of 20 doctors, and nursing staff including the family members of six dead babies were recorded. The team will also stay on Tuesday. The team has to submit the report in seven days.

A short circuit is said to be the cause of the accident.

Meanwhile, the child of Muskan, wife of Vishal, a resident of Pipri Atkaiyan village of Jalaun, who was saved in the fire, died. Now the number of children who died has gone up to 12. Three children admitted to the medical college are still critical. Director General of Medical Education and Training Dr. Kinjal Singh, who is heading the team, has said that the cause of the accident was a short circuit. She said that first, the extension cord caught fire. After this, the nearby ventilator also caught fire, causing this accident.

The team took information about the health of the children.

On Monday morning at around 11 am, Kinjal Singh, Additional Director of Fire Department Arun Kumar, Director, Treatment Dr. Bhanu Pratap Singh Kalyani, and AD Electricity Ravi Kumar Medical College. The team first inspected the SNCU. After this, the members reached the 10-bed SNCU ward built in ward number five. Here they took information about the health of the admitted children.

Interrogation of 20 doctors, and nursing staff including the family members of the dead babies

The investigation team first interrogated a total of 20 doctors and nursing staff, including nine personnel deployed during the fire. After this, information about the incident was taken from the family members of the dead newborns. After this, the team interrogated the Principal of the Medical College, Dr. NS Sengar, Chief Medical Superintendent Dr. Sunita Bhadauria, Head of the Medicine Department Dr. Kuldeep Chandel, Head of the Child Disease Department Dr. Omshankar Chaurasia based on the CCTV footage. At the same time, the incident was also learned from JE Sujit and the electricity workers of the college.

The quality of electrical equipment will be checked.

The Director General of Medical Education said that the team of the electricity department will also investigate to find out the reason for the short circuit. Experts from the electricity department will also be with the team, it will be found out whether there was more load than the capacity. Whether the capacity and quality of the electrical equipment installed was correct or not. It will also be found out whether the voltage suddenly increased, which caused the short circuit.

Fire safety arrangements will be checked afresh in every hospital.

After the fire incident at Jhansi Medical College, the government has taken strict steps regarding the safety of hospitals in the state. Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak has directed to conduct of a fresh fire safety audit of every hospital. All hospitals have been directed to prepare a checklist of 20 points related to safety and response. In a meeting with the officials of the Medical Education and Medical and Health Department in the Annexe on Monday, the Deputy Chief Minister said that if wires are found hanging, switches are found faulty, or less than the capacity in any hospital, the concerned superintendent and director will be responsible.

The Deputy Chief Minister warned the officers that the deficiencies revealed by the security audit of every hospital should be removed immediately. The responsibility of every officer and medical officer should be fixed. Mock drills should be conducted from time to time. The equipment should be checked regularly. Every day the medical officer should take a round of the hospital premises with his expert team.

A mistake like Jhansi will not happen anywhere else

The mind is saddened by the Jhansi incident. The government is completely with the victim's family. Every possible help is being provided to them. Strict action will be taken against the culprits based on the investigation report of the high-level team of the department. The mistakes found there will not be allowed to happen in any other hospital.