Burud Aali fire case: Hosps get clean chit

Civic body says Todkar and KEM hospitals denied treatment to 2-year-old girl because of lack of facilitiesTheu00a0civic body has given a clean chit to Todkar and KEM hospitals, which had allegedly denied treatment to a 2-year-old girl injured in a massive blaze in the Burud Aali of Ganesh Peth on May 5 night. Earlier, a report submitted by the fire brigade to the Standing Committee absolved the firemen--who allegedly failed to rescue the trapped victims by not making optimum use of equipments at its disposal--of dereliction of duty. No isolation ward: The KEM Hospital, one of the hospitals where the girl was taken, does have an ICU but not an isolation ward. file picIn a report titled 'Ganesh Peth blaze: Will inquiry report really hit nail on head?' on May 19, MiD DAY had expressed concerns about the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the fire brigade attempting to cover up the shortfalls. Fireman Bharat Pawar in his official communiqu ufffd had mentioned clearly that the Todkar hospital and KEM hospital denied treatment to Shrutika Mahesh Ghorpade. The fire brigade report stated that action should be taken against the hospitals that denied treatment to the injured girl. Absolving its men of negligence, the fire brigade said information about people trapped inside the house did not reach the firemen in time. The report also states there was no delay in rescue operations and that training should be given to all firemen to use the modern equipment and rescue vans. We have interrogated the hospital authorities and found the denial was due to technical reasons. The Todkar hospital had no Intensive Care Unit (ICU) to get the girl admitted into and so the doctors felt it was risky and better to get the girl admitted to another hospital, said Dr S P Pardeshi, assistant medical officer, health, PMC. The KEM hospital has an ICU, but it does not have an isolation ward that would prevent other patients from contracting infections. There is no question of action being taken against the hospitals. The fireman should have taken the girl directly to the Surya hospital, instead of wasting time at the other two hospitals. Blaze that klled 6Six people were killed in the massive bamboo warehouse blaze at a century-old wada in Ganesh Peth on the night of May 5. Sandeep Digambar Ghorpade (45), his wife Archana (38), Mahesh Digambar Ghorpade (40), his wife Sharada (30) and two girls Shravani (1) and Shrutika (2) died in the conflagration.