Delhi children's hospital fire: NCPCR chairperson says, "This is a failure of the state government"
May 27, 2024
New Delhi [India], May 27 : National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) chairperson Priyank Kanoongo on Monday stated that Delhi officials have not been cooperating in giving information in connection with the deaths of seven newborn babies in the Vivek Vihar New Born Baby Care Hospital fire incident that occurred on Saturday night.
"We had sent our member to the concerned hospital and tried to get information from the Delhi government officers as well. Unfortunately, Delhi government officers did not cooperate with us... In fact, in 2021, we sought information from the Delhi government about the NICU in Delhi. So we got information about 4 NICUs in Shahadra..." said Priyank Kanoongo.
He further pointed out, "We even urged the Delhi government to conduct a fire safety audit and submit the report but we received no such report. Prima facie we observed, there was no fire exit in the hospital, nor was there any sprinkler system or fire extinguishers. They had no NOC for refilling oxygen cylinders in the hospital..."
Kanoongo stated that NDMA guidelines were violated. He held local authorities, district administration, the health department, the state government, and the fire department responsible for the incident.
Lashing out at the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal led Delhi government he said, "This is a failure of the state government... We will prepare a report on the entire incident and hand it over to the Home Ministry..."
Earlier in the day, Delhi's Karkardooma Court remanded two accused, including the owner of New Born Child Hospital case to three days of police custody in connection with the deaths of seven new-borns in the fire incident.
Accused were produced before the court after their fresh arrest.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vidhi Anand Gupta remanded Dr Naveen Khichi and Dr Akash to three days of police custody till May 30.
After hearing the submissions of the police, the court granted three days of police custody of both accused.
