Hyderabad: Dr V. Sunil Kumar Reddy, the managing director of Shine Children’s Hospital, and five others were arrested on Friday for the fire in the neo-natal intensive care unit that resulted in the death of an infant and burns to four others on October 21.
There were 43 children in the hospital when the fire broke out in the pre-dawn hours. Vicky, the son of a police constable, Dongari Naresh, who was closest to the refrigerator which caught fire, died. Naresh lodged a complaint with the police.
A police investigation found that the fire was the outcome of the negligence of the hospital management and the staff, who did not take adequate measures to prevent the fire and rescue the children.
The police retrieved footage from the CCTV cameras in the hospital, examined the witnesses and found Dr Reddy had failed to instal fire protection equipment, fire alarm systems, fire extinguishing sprinklers as per norms. It was found that he was running the hospital without the necessary permissions and even without a fire no-objection certificate from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.
Rachakonda police commissioner, Mahesh Bhagwat, said, “Investigations revealed that Dr Hari Krishna who was the duty doctor when the incident occurred was not even present in the NICU. He did not reach the spot which was blazing for around half an hour.”
Sravanthi, duty nurse in the NICU, had left the Unit at 1.57 am, and did not return to save the babies. The fire occurred at about 2.15 am near the refrigerator in the NICU located on the fourth floor of the hospital building.
Shanthi Deepika, duty nurse on the floor, did not bother to rescue the infants, Mr Bhagwat said.
Basheer, the electrician, who had to ensure that the electric equiment worked properly, failed to prevent the blast and fire in the refrigerator. “The accused showed negligence and exposed the lives of the 43 children to the fire hazard. The accused have been arrested and produced before the court for the judicial custody,” Mr Bhagwat said.
