Fire safety hazards: How safe are our hospitals?

Hospital fires can be devastating in terms of loss of life, injuries to patients/staff, and loss of property/equipment, more so because hospitals house a large number of vulnerable people (old/sick/disabled/pregnant/children, immunecompromised, on life support, and incapable of moving). According to some patients, there were no announcements on the public address system and also the staff abandoned them. In high-rise hospitals, escape chutes[12] may be installed which ensure rapid and safe shifting of everyone including the bedridden patientsA disaster action plan, including four points based on rescue, alarm, confine, and extinguish, for firefighting procedures with standard operating procedures, should be prepared and prominently displayed with assigned roles to different persons, with their contact details.