[Editorial] Fire in a hospital

Abstract

On December 9, 2011, in a shocking and gruesome incident, perhaps the worst of its kind in India, a massive fire broke out at the AMRI Hospitals, a large private speciality institution in Kolkata and consumed 93 lives (1). Hapless patients in wards and intensive care were suffocated and charred to death as local fire containment measures were nonexistent and fire fighters could not enter the narrow lane leading to the hospital .There was a huge media outcry over the incident and finger pointing by local politicians. As a fallout of the incident, six directors of the hospital, including two senior doctors and four others who happen to be leading Kolkata industrialists, were arrested for abetment. The hospital’s licence was cancelled, the government ordered an ‘enquiry’, compensation was awarded to the victims’ families and a review of fire safety in hospitals across the country was ordered. For a few days after the story the media did ‘exposes’ on fire safety measures in other hospitals in the country. The state of poor safety measures became “breaking news”. Soon the story receded into the background, and gradually disappeared. In short, everything proceeded according to a predictable script. If it isn’t already, everything will soon be back to business as usual, perhaps even at AMRI