Mumbai Hospital Where Fire Broke Out Was Operating On A Provisional Certificate: What We Know
The Sunrise Hospital was located inside the Dreams Mall in Bhandup and had over 70 COVID-19 patients admitted there at the time of the fire. The fire was first spotted on the first floor of the mall where shops for home decor and imitation jewellery were located and later spread to other floors.
When the news about the deadly fire at the Sunrise Hospital in Mumbai broke, many had one question in mind - how was a hospital that was treating COVID-19 patients functioning in a shopping mall?
The Sunrise Hospital was located inside the Dreams Mall in Bhandup and had over 70 COVID-19 patients admitted there at the time of the fire.
BCCL
The fire was first spotted on the first floor of the mall where shops for home decor and imitation jewellery were located and later spread to other floors.
The Sunrise Hospital was located on the third floor of the mall.
After the fire incident, Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar had said that it was the first time she had seen a hospital in a shopping mall.
Maharashtra: Fire breaks out at a hospital in Mumbai's Bhandup; rescue operation on
¡ª ANI (@ANI) March 25, 2021
"Cause of fire is yet to be ascertained. I've seen a hospital at mall for the first time. Action to be taken. 70 patients including COVID infected shifted to another hospital," says Mumbai Mayor pic.twitter.com/sq1K29PVhe
Reuters
Former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya alleged that the Sunrise Hospital and Dreams Mall were constructed by scam-hit HDIL from the PMC Bank's monies and were allegedly given a conditional occupation certificate by the BMC.
The Times of India reported that the hospital inside Dreams Mall was first proposed in 2014 but the plan was stalled. It operated on a provisional occupation certificate granted in May 2020 by the BMC, though the building that housed it had got notices for construction irregularities and fire safety violations.
The basement, first and second floors had failed to get an 'all clear' from the fire department. However, Sunrise Hospital applied for and promptly got an 'NOC' from the very same department, the report further said.
BCCL
In a statement, the hospital said it was started in exceptional circumstances of COVID last year and has helped in saving many patients' lives, and added that it is functioning with all due compliances like fire license, nursing home license, etc.
The operations head of Sunrise Hospital, Satyendra Tiwari, said that the recently-started hospital had all the licences/permissions in place and the fire broke out in the mall below and not in the third floor of the hospital premises.
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has requested Deputy Municipal Commissioner (DMC) of Disaster Management Prabhat Rahangdale to conduct an inquiry into the fire incident.
BCCL
In a letter to Rahangdale, BMC Commissioner Iqbal Chahal asked Rahangdale to conduct an inquiry within 15 days to find the cause of the fire in consultation with the Chief Fire Officer and fix up the responsibility of concerned officers regarding illegality in the structure if any.
Chahal further asked the Deputy Commissioner to check if all requisite licenses were issued to the mall and the hospital and if not, 'fix up the responsibility of concerned officers'.
"The enquiry shall... find out whether there were any lacuna in fire compliances to be maintained, in the fire extinguish, and any other issue of relevance to prevent such accidents in the future," the letter read.
Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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