The safety of firefighters and cops pressed for rescue at Sunrise COVID Hospital was compromised, they say; city’s fire chief has tested positive
Fire engines and firefighters at Dreams the Mall in Bhandup last week. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi
A day after the Mumbai Fire Chief tested positive for coronavirus and was hospitalised, health experts said that the recent firefighting and rescue at Bhandup’s Dreams the Mall should be a learning lesson for the state administration to come up with appropriate measures to ensure safety of the firemen, police and others who had come in direct contact with over 70 COVID patients, as they are the first responders to any emergency call.
In its article ‘Bhandup mall fire fighters at Covid risk’ dated April 2, mid-day had highlighted the vulnerability of 30-plus firemen and rescue teams who shifted COVID patients from Sunrise Hospital to safety wearing only PPE kits on March 25. Experts say such PPE kits are not made of fire-retardant materials and pose more risks.
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Kailash Hiwrale, 58, the Mumbai Fire Brigade chief, was at the helm of the operation at Dreams the Mall. He was feeling unwell in the last two to three days, and had chest congestion due to excessive smoke inhalation.
Sources at Nanavati Hospital said Hiwrale was brought in minutes before midnight on March 31. Being a known case of hypertension and diabetes, he was admitted in ‘C’ wing COVID ward bed no 346 and was provided with a litre of external oxygen supply to maintain his oxygen saturation level. A RT-PCR test showed he was positive.
On Friday, the fire chief was feeling much better, and the external oxygen support was also removed. His oxygen saturation level was between 96-97 per cent and all his vitals were fine. He will be in the hospital for some days before undergoing another RT-PCR test. Once the report comes negative, he will be discharged, said a hospital source.
The Byculla firemen / officers’ residential quarters has a 20-bed quarantine centre. A few family members of firefighters too have tested positive and are in home isolation for the past few days, said a civic official. The firefighters involved in the Bhandup operation have been directed by Additional Commissioner (Health) Suresh Kakani to look for any symptoms. So far, nobody other than Hiwrale has tested positive.
Dr Subhash Hira, Professor of Global Health at the University of Washington-Seattle, said, “The second wave of COVID-19 has shown rapid spread due to a high proportion of variants. The biological formula, namely SARS-COV-2 spread rate, R0=Bcd has reached 1.6 in several states of India. This means each fireman or rescue personnel who went in-and-out of the Sunrise COVID Hospital and got exposed to SARS-COV-2 is likely to spread infection to 16 persons. That is one of the reasons that it is expected that the second wave will likely be longer and will have a larger number of people infected, including higher deaths.”
Dr Hira echoed concerns over non-usage of containment vans for decontaminating firemen and their tools. He added, “In the wake of the pandemic, firefighting protocols for hospitals need to be rewritten to ensure that ‘containment vans’ are made available whenever fire outbreaks occur in a hospital and the firefighting squad on the front line have completed their full doses of vaccine, and are free of comorbidities. Moreover, their PPE dresses need to be re-designed with impermeable material to prevent them getting wet.”
Dr Wiqar Shaikh, Professor of Medicine, Grant Medical College and Sir J.J. Group of Hospitals, said the entire team of firemen, police sent to the Bhandup mall should have undergone decontamination in a van and later COVID-tested and quarantined.
He lamented that the absence of a decontamination van could make the fire incident a super spreader for COVID-19. He expressed disappointment saying when crores of rupees are being spent on hi-tech firefighting equipment, a much cheaper and effective decontamination van would have helped in scientifically controlling the spread of the virus.
Dr. Shaikh questioned why the government’s decontamination van should be reserved only for incidents like a nuclear attack. He said firemen and cops who are above 50 years of age and are comorbid should be exempted from entering fire premises and should be proactive in directing operations from the outside. “Authorities should do their homework and prepare an action plan for such disasters, especially in view of the ongoing pandemic,” he added.
30 - No. of firemen, cops involved in rescue at Sunrise Hospital
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