Data On Nursing Homes At A Click

New Delhi: Delhi govt will develop an online portal with all data on compliances, registration and validity of the nursing homes in the city, which will be open to public scrutiny. Govt officials said lieutenant governor VK Saxena had pointed out that the manual registration process of the nursing homes left a lot of room for discretion, ambiguity and corruption. “The chief secretary may accordingly ensure that an online portal is made operational with all data of compliances, registration and validity, which is open to public scrutiny,” LG said in an internal communication after a fire on Saturday night killed six babies at New Born Baby Care Hospital in east Delhi’s Vivek Vihar.A facility for neonatal care, it had five more babies who were immediately shifted to another hospital and they are still receiving treatment. Police have found glaring lapses in the operations of the hospital, whose licence had expired in March. Police have also found that the hospital neither had a no-objection certificate (NOC) from Delhi Fire Services nor had implemented fire safety measures. The chief secretary has also been directed “to advise all district magistrates to have a field verification done of their respective areas within two weeks to ascertain the actual number of functional nursing homes, which can then be compared with the list of health department”. The exercise would give an idea about the extent of such violations prevalent in the city, said an official.The police probe has revealed that the hospital’s licence had expired on March 31 this year, yet it continued to operate without any hindrance. It also appears that the doctors working there lacked necessary qualifications and expertise to treat newborns requiring neonatal intensive care. According to police, their inquiry has disclosed that only one of the doctors had an MBBS degree, while the rest held only a BAMS (Bachelor in Ayurvedic Medicine) degree. The hospital also didn’t have a fire extinguisher and an emergency exit.Police are also investigating the possibility of an illegal oxygen cylinder filling operation at the hospital. A large number of oxygen cylinders have been found at the site and several neighbours have earlier reported such suspicious activities inside the hospital at night. Dr Naveen Khichi, the owner of the hospital, has claimed that the hospital doesn’t require an NOC as the building was under 15 metres in height.Dr Khichi and Dr Akash, who was on duty during the fire, have been arrested and booked under sections 336 (negligence), 304 (culpable homicide), 308 (attempt to culpable homicide) and 34 (common intention) of Indian Penal Code. The provisions of Juvenile Justice Act has also been added.