Mumbai: After the death comes compensation. It is as if life has a price according to some family members of those who were killed in a hospital fire in Virar in Palghar district of Maharashtra.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled Friday the loss of lives and approved an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each for the next of kin of the victims. The dead included eight men and five women. The fire broke out after a blast in the AC unit, an official said.
“PM @narendramodi has approved an ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh each from PMNRF (Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund) for the next of kin of those who have lost their lives due to the hospital fire in Virar, Maharashtra. Rs 50,000 would be given to those seriously injured,” the PMO said in a tweet.
Similarly the Maharashtra government also announced compensation of Rs 5,00,000 for each of the families of the deceased. A statement from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said those who suffered serious injuries in the incident will be given Rs 1,00,000 compensation each.
Thirteen coronavirus patients died after the blaze in the ICU located on the second floor of the four-storeyed Vijay Vallabh Hospital.
Meanwhile relatives of some of the victims alleged that the staffers of the facility were asleep when the blaze broke out. They alleged that there was nobody to help the patients come out of the ICU. They also pointed out that the hospital did not fulfil the basic fire safety requirements. After the incident, angry and distraught family members of the patients gathered outside the hospital.
“All this is hospital administration’s mistake. Its staff members were asleep when the fire broke out. There was not a single employee inside the ICU to help the patients come out,” a relative of one of the deceased alleged.
“The hospital does not have basic fire safety equipment, like sufficient number of fire extinguishers,” a family member of another patient said. “Then why did they start the hospital at all?” he asked.
A woman, who is a doctor by profession, lost her mother in the blaze. She said that the fire could have been put off with the help of fire extinguisher, but nothing was done. “I lost my mother, who was recovering from the ailment. She could have been saved if the fire safety norms were followed,” she said.
“I had personally brought my mother to the hospital in an ambulance for better treatment. Now where will I find my mother,” she added while sobbing.
Another victim’s relative sought strong action against the hospital. “Whoever is guilty should be punished,” the person said.
An employee of the hospital said the AC system there was not working since Thursday afternoon and some repair work was going on. He informed that the facility had been facing some problem with its AC system in the COVID-19 ward.
“When I went to the hospital yesterday (Thursday) afternoon, the air conditioner was not working in the COVID-19 ward. I saw some repair work was going on at that time as AC panels were removed,” Supriya Deshmukh, a staffer at the hospital told a regional news channel.
“The hospital authorities had set up some fans as a temporary arrangement. After finishing my work and I returned home late in the evening,” she added.