Ahmedabad hospitals too conduct mock fire drills

On the occasion of National Fire Safety Day on Thursday, public and corporate hospitals in the city conducted fire safety checks and organised mock drills at their campuses to test their efficiency to deal with fire emergencies.

The biggest public sector hospital of the city, Civil Hospital, has organised a mega mock drive on its six building on Friday to train the staff of 1,200 nurses and 700 helpers.

Dr MM Prabhakar, superintendent of the hospital, said, "To test the efficiency of the staff, we have organised a mock fire safety drive on Friday. The hospital conducts four mock drives in a year. The fire safety mechanism at the hospital is checked daily."

Sterling, Pulse and Apollo also conducted exercises to test and upgrade their fire safety mechanisms. Hitakshi Buch from Apollo Hospitals said mock drills were held at the premises in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. Various life-saving stunts were performed. A mock drill was held under supervision of Inayat Hussain, fire safety officer of the hospital, and officials of Gandhinagar fire station. Dr Praful Pawar, CEO, Apollo Hospitals said, "As a healthcare professional we have to be more responsible. We conduct mock drive as it is our responsibility to know about fire safety."

Dr Chandramauli Raval, Sterling Hospital, said, "Sterling Hospital has an in-house fire safety team which follows the Code Red Alert System - the most efficient method to deal with fire emergencies worldwide. On the occasion of National Fire Safety Day, we conduct rigorous manual checks on the system to test its efficiency."