Chargesheet in Delhi hospital fire which killed 7 infants cites negligence

NEW DELHI, JULY 25 : Two months after a fire in east Delhi’s private neonatal hospital, the Delhi Police on July 22 filed a 796-page charge sheet in the case and observed that the hospital was running without fire safety devices and staff did not act swiftly when the blaze began.

The charge sheet was filed at a city court and cited the statements of 81 witnesses along with forensic reports.

“During the investigation, we checked a total of eight points about the statutory requirement to run NICU and the norms which were violated by the hospital. Regarding fire safety, there is no document available to show the safety measures that have been implemented by the hospital. The hospital had the permission to function with five beds but was running with 12 beds,” a senior police officer told news agency PTI, referring to the charge sheet.

The officials of the Delhi Fire Services (DFS) said the blaze broke out at the Baby Care New Born Hospital at around 11.30 pm, which soon spread to two other adjacent buildings.

Due to the fire, many oxygen cylinders kept in the two-storey building exploded, which damaged the adjacent buildings.

Two men — the owner of the hospital, Naveen Khichi, and a BAMS doctor, Akash, who were on duty on the day of the incident, were arrested in connection with the case.

Documents received from the Directorate of Health Services, Delhi, prove that the nursing home was granted a license to run the NICU for five beds in 2021 for three years. The renewal application was under submission with DGHS.

The officer said only BAMS doctors were deployed to take care of infants admitted to NICU. No qualified nurses were deployed, the officer said, adding that it is a must that they must possess the minimum qualification of General Nursing and Midwifery (GNM) along with DNC registration.

Police observed that at the time of issuance of a license, the accused gave a declaration that they would have five oxygen cylinders of Category B type and 15 cylinders of Category D type.

However, at the time of the incident, there were 31 oxygen cylinders kept in the hospital, which violated the declaration submitted by the hospital to the authorities, the officer said. These cylinders were stored in a hazardous manner and exploded when the blaze started.

“From the investigation conducted so far and relying upon the statements of witnesses recorded under section 161 of the CrPC, sufficient evidence has come on record against the accused Khichi and Akash for the death of the seven infants by their known act of running a hospital for NICU beyond permissible beds, without qualified RMO and nurses, without fire safety devices and not acting swiftly in the event of fire,” the charge sheet said.

Police, in their charge sheet, observed that the owner of the hospital is a qualified doctor and a professional person with full knowledge that newborn babies are very vulnerable and even a small incident can be fatal for them.

“Initially, the case was registered under section 304A (causing death by negligence) of the IPC, but subsequently, based on the evidence on record, section 304 (culpable homicide), 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) and 34 (common intention) and 75 of the JJ Act were invoked,” it read.

The charge sheet, while citing the statement of the nursing staff on duty, said the owner of the nursing home allowed the other male staff to cook on the rooftop.

This issue was also brought to the knowledge of the owner but to no avail, the charge sheet said, adding that the structural design of the nursing home was not safe for emergencies.

The inspection reports of forensic experts, the Delhi Fire Service, the Electrical Inspector and the MCD team, have also been annexed with the charge sheet.

The accused kept inflammable materials, like bundles of old papers and wooden materials, and their presence aggravated the fire.

The doctor, who carried out the post-mortem, opined that the cause of death of the infants was due to burns.

The viscera and femur samples of deceased infants were deposited in FSL in Rohini for analysis and expert opinion, and their reports are still awaited.

-The India Today