Delhi Hospital Fire: The Vivek Vihar nursing home, where seven newborn babies were killed in a fire on May 25, has been accused of flouting multiple norms of safety in maintenance including a lack of action from the resident doctors at the right time and the required number of oxygen cylinders.
The 796-page chargesheet also states that there was oversight by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Dr Naveen Khichi, owner of the nursing home, had earlier been indicted in a similar case of a baby centre. The case is still pending in front of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Shahdara, yet, the DGHS looked the other way and provided him with a license to construct the nursing home in Vivek Vihar.
Accordingly, the police have said that Khichi’s nursing home was filled to the brim with multiple safety concerns, like a lack of appliances to ward off fire hazards, and sufficient space for emergency exit. On the other hand, it has been mentioned that the resident doctor during the night shift Dr Akash, a resident of Dadri district in Haryana, was not seen inside the premises when the fire broke out.
According to officials, his negligence had led to the cops being late by almost 30 minutes.
Moreover, it has also been pointed in the chargesheet that the doctor and other medical personnel could have helped in retrieving and saving the babies inside the wards.
The nursing home had two paediatricians, Dr Khichi and Dr Abhiman, while three other doctors, Dr Akash, Dr Sachin and Dr Subham, were Bachelors of Ayurvedic and Medicine Surgery (BAMS).
According to regulations, one RMO should at least hold a valid Delhi Medical Council certificate in a postgraduate degree, specialising in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). However, the nursing home only had one doctor who was a BAMS graduate.
It has been further established through both statements from witnesses and the findings of the chargesheet that none of the safety protocols were met by Dr Khichi.
Staff’s complaints
Multiple staff members of the establishment said they had suggested that the nursing home required fire safety equipment such as fire extinguishers.
“He (Dr Naveen Khichi) never installed fire extinguishers inside the nursing home. We had brought to his notice that any disaster could take place inside the premises but he never took us seriously nor heeded our concerns. He just told us to do our jobs,” said Megha Mukharjee, a resident of Sonia Vihar and a nurse at the facility, in her statement to the police, accessed by Patriot.
Raksha, the receptionist and a resident of Nand Nagri, said, “Ajay and Lalan, who are part of the housekeeping staff, and Guddu, the driver, used to work round the clock and live inside the nursing home itself. They would cook food and eat on the terrace where a small cylinder was kept beside a generator room. I had complained to Dr Naveen Khichi about this as well but he never heeded the complaints.”
Similarly, it has been alleged in the chargesheet that the first floor and the terrace were filled with sheets of paper which eventually led to the spread of the fire.
Also, the establishment contained more oxygen cylinders than it had been provided for, and they were being handled by untrained hands.
“Since Ajay, Lallan and Guddu stayed on the premises, Dr Naveen would give each of them the duty to change the oxygen cylinders whenever the alarm of depleting oxygen would sound,” said Raksha.
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It was also found according to the building plan submitted to DGHS that the first floor had two rooms which were 201.73 square feet and 145.25 square feet respectively.
However, the requirement according to Delhi Nursing Home Registration (Amendment) Rules, 2011, and Delhi Nursing Home Registration Act, 1953, states that a space of 50 square feet space per bed is necessary for neonatal nursing homes. The chargesheet further alludes that the establishment had space for only five beds but they crammed in 10.
No hope in the system
Although a chargesheet has been filed, the parents of the babies who survived the fire remain without much hope in the justice system.
“I know that the accused will be bailed out the moment they step foot inside the court since they are influential and we are poor. Nobody wants to listen to our pleas. Not even the government, considering the fact that they only gave us Rs 20,000 as compensation, when I had already spent Rs 1,00,000 during the course of my baby’s treatment. My husband lost out on a ton of his salary too since he had to take leaves to pay visits to the hospital to get our baby fully treated, after she was rescued but the government did not take that into consideration,” said Deepa Gautam, a mother of two children, one of who was her daughter trapped inside the nursing home.
“My baby was born after a Caesarian surgery and I cannot imagine the pain of the mothers who lost their babies after undergoing such a surgery. It is almost as if I can hear their cries. I still remember there was a father who kept visiting the place saying that he had still not found his child, and then, the government believes that such suffering deserves a compensation of only Rs 20,000,” she said.
“Even at the Swami Dayanand General Hospital where we went after the nursing home burnt down to the ground, the doctors were very dismissive. The staff and the doctors behaved very rudely for three weeks till they informed us that our daughter was fine in the third week.”
Mithlesh Kumar, the father of Shiv Kumar and the husband of Richa Kumar, shared that they too had received a paltry compensation of Rs 20,000.
“They gave us the sum to compensate for the loss that we faced in the fire. Quite obviously it is not enough. I have had to return to work but my wife is still not doing well. At the moment, my son is having a routine check-up each week. I have decided to not go to any private hospital since this is the second time that something like this has happened in a private hospital,” he said.
Earlier, Mithlesh and Richa had lost their daughter, Shiv’s twin, also in a private hospital in Noida.
“We have lost Rs 20,000 in my child’s admission as well as a daily routine fee of Rs 7,000. I have not received even a fraction of it back,” he said.
Similarly, Madhuraj Kumar, the husband of Suman Kumar, highlighted that he returned to work only recently.
“My wife is still traumatised and it will take some time for her to recover. We are still trying to rebuild.”
The family also received Rs 20,000 as compensation.
Karishma Kumar and Rakesh Kumar have only recently been able to save their child from the teeth of death since she was admitted to a hospital to recover from the excessive toxic smoke she inhaled.
“It has only been a week since she returned but multiple check-ups are still required. I have started going back to work only now but I am still very shaken considering everything that happened over the past two months. My wife is still shaken,” he said, demanding strong action against the accused.
Also Read: Delhi hospital fire: Owner, doctor sent to 14-day judicial custody
Presently, the accused, Dr Khichi and Dr Akash have been charged with Sections 304 (culpable homicide), 308 (attempt to culpable homicide), 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.
The fire had caused the death of seven babies while another was reported dead before it erupted. Four of the children were reported to be alive.
