Violation of safety norms: Shut Kandivli hospital, says fire brigade; BMC yet to act

Life Care Hospital is located at Centrium Mall in Kandivli East. Pics/Anurag Ahire

After the Bhandara Hospital tragedy in January, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had ordered fire safety audits of all hospitals, but the establishments continue to violate norms and do business as usual. Recently, the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) recommended closure of the Life Care Hospital in Kandivli for violation of fire safety norms and submitted a report to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), but the civic body is yet to initiate action in the matter.

In September, MFB officials in its report to the BMC recommended that Life Care Hospital located at Centrium Mall, Lokhandwala Complex, Kandivli East, should be shut down immediately for violations of fire safety norms. According to the report, a copy of which is with mid-day, during inspection the fire official observed that the hospital did not have a fire compliance certificate. The inspection report further stated that no smoke detector or fire alarm system was installed on the premises nor was there any entry/exit signage displayed. "Evacuation drills haven't been conducted in the past. No evacuation plan has been prepared or displayed on the premises," the report added.

The irregularities regarding the hospital were brought to the fore by an RTI query filed by Alex Nadar. In 2020, Nadar's father tested positive for COVID-19 and was admitted to Life Care Hospital for nearly two weeks. "My father was hospitalised for about 14 days. The hospital gave me a bill of '8 lakh for my father's treatment. I requested them to reduce the bill amount, following which they charged me about '5 lakh. After my father's discharge, I filed an RTI to know whether the hospital had all the necessary permissions for the business. That is when I got to know that the hospital has been functioning in violation of fire safety norms," said Nadar.
RTI activist Mehul Katariya alleged that there are several hospitals in the western suburbs, which have been running in violation of
fire safety norms.

"Under RTI I have asked the BMC for information on how many unregistered hospitals are functioning in the R South ward (areas of Kandivli and some parts of Borivli) and whether any FIR has been filed against the erring hospitals in connection with violation of safety norms," Katariya added.

Sandhya Nandedkar, R South ward official, did not respond to calls or messages. However, the owner of Life Care Hospital, Dr Suresh Jaiswal answered mid-day's call, but after hearing the queries, he said, "I will get back to you." However, he did not respond till the time of going to press.