Hospital fire in Delhi: More than 25% of the 1,183 unlicensed nursing homes in Delhi

The Baby Care New Born hospital in Vivek Vihar, East Delhi, had a big fire that killed six newborns and injured five more. The hospital’s licencing expired on March 31, two months ago, but it’s not the only one that’s still in operation.

Out of the 1,183 registered nursing homes in the capital, data from the Delhi government’s health department reveals that 340 (28.74%) have had their registrations expire, some of them as long as six years ago. West and Northwest Delhi are home to the greatest concentration of these facilities operating with expired permits. There are two of them at Vivek Vihar, the location of the incident; nine more are located nearby.

According to the status report, the permits for eight more establishments expired in March 2019 and the licences for two, Ardent Ganpati Hospital in Mundka and Indra Clinic & Test Tube Baby Centre in Patel Nagar, expired in March 2018. When contacted, a few of the institutions offered the typical justifications: bureaucracy, financial difficulties stemming from Covid, absence of a fire NOC, which is a need for acquiring licences, and a review of their renewal process.

Of the 288 nursing homes in West Delhi, 33.3% (or 96 units) have expired in terms of their registration. Northwest has 194 licences, 48 of which are expired (24.7%). There are 94 nursing facilities in East Delhi, with 25 violators (26.6%); 102 in Southwest Delhi, with 29 expired licences (28.4%); and 94 in South Delhi, with 25 (26.6%) of their permits having expired.

The situation is better in Central and New Delhi, where there are 63 and 23 nursing homes, respectively, of which 17 and 2 have expired. A senior health department official verified the information on condition of anonymity, and HT has seen a copy of the status report that contains the data.

Citing that “more than quarter of nursing homes in Delhi are operating without valid registration” and that “even those nursing homes with registration may not be meeting the safety and regulatory standards,” Delhi LG VK Saxena on Tuesday ordered an investigation by the anti-corruption bureau into the registration process of nursing homes in the city.

The Delhi Nursing Home Registration Act, 1953, governs the registration and management of the operations of the city’s nursing homes by the directorate general of health services (Delhi government)’s nursing home cell. It is required of the cell to register these units and renew their registration every three years.

Infant deaths in Delhi: Staff called, but not the police, minutes after the fire

According to the May 7, 2024 report from the nursing home cell, at least 119 additional nursing homes, including the Vivek Vihar facility, had permits that expired on March 31, 2024, two months ago. Additionally, 133 nursing homes have registrations that expired in March 2023. And 65, whose permits came to an end in March 2020.

These nursing homes range in size from tiny establishments with two beds to larger ones with seventy beds, which would practically convert them into hospitals. The study also states that 98 of the 340 permit holders whose licences have expired still have to pay the renewal or cancellation fees.

The AAP government in Delhi cited the bureaucracy of the city-state, which answers to the LG.

According to Saurabh Bhardwaj, Minister of Health, the Secretary of Health has not yet reported for work. The information is available with the department and is not directly available to me, thus I am unable to offer it, he continued.

When asked for reaction, the health secretary remained silent.

Delhi baby deaths: Employee claims that immediately the fire started, all on-duty personnel left.

An employee who answered the phone at Aggarwal Charitable Hospital in Shakti Nagar, North Delhi, stated that they were unable to renew the registration due to a lack of a NOC (no-objection certificate) from the fire department. The hospital’s license expires in March 2020. “We don’t have an active license because the hospital building is very old and was constructed before the current fire policy was established, and fire NOCs are now required for license applications submitted after 2020.”

“We are in contact with the authorities,” he continued, adding that they lacked the resources to rebuild in accordance with the new guidelines.

A doctor who wished to remain anonymous answered the phone at Satayanand Medical Centre in Tagore Garden, whose licenses expired four years ago, and stated that the “licence was under review and documentation work was underway”.

Infant fatalities in Delhi: LG directs ACB to look into nursing homes’ registrations

A doctor at the Sharad Nursing Home in Nangloi stated that the facility was inspected by DGHS around six months prior. The facility’s license expired in 2020. The physician blamed the Covid epidemic for the absence of rejuvenation. “We possess all the paperwork required to operate the facility. We were severely impacted by COVID, and at one time we had to close our nursing home before reopening it when things improved,” he stated.

The license of the Temple Nursing Home in Daryaganj, which expired in 2020, is currently being reviewed, according to a representative who answered the hospital’s phone. She continued, “We have applied for a license renewal because we are a very old hospital.”

Lastly, a physician at Ashok Vihar’s Maharaja Agarsain Hospital (Charitable) contested the report’s stated status. “We shouldn’t be on this list because we have all the necessary licenses in place.”

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