United Hospital Fire: Isolation unit had no Rajuk approval

Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) yesterday submitted a probe report  to the High Court saying that there was no approval for the coronavirus  isolation unit at United Hospital, where five people were killed in a  fire on May 27.

Fire Service and Civil Defence, and Dhaka Metropolitan Police also  submitted two probe reports to the HC, which found that the authorities  concerned of United Hospital were negligent in preventing the fire and  rescuing the victims.             

Deputy Attorney General Amit Talukder placed the probe reports on  behalf of Rajuk, fire service, and DMP before the HC bench of Justice M  Enayetur Rahim during a virtual hearing on a writ petition in line with  its June 2 directives.

The bench set June 22 for delivering an order on this issue.

Citing the probe reports, Amit told The Daily Star yesterday that  Rajuk in its report said the United Hospital had no approval to  construct the isolation unit.

In its report, fire service said there were no staffers on duty to ensure fire safety when the fire broke out in the unit.

Most of the fire extinguishers had already passed their expiry  dates, Amit said, adding that the fire service found that there was an  approval from the Directorate General of Health Services to build the  unit.

The DMP found that the authorities concerned of the hospital had not  taken proper steps to rescue the victims and douse the fire, although  the victims had sought help, he added, citing the DMP probe report.

Meanwhile, the hospital authorities submitted their report to the HC  through their lawyers Mustafizur Rahman Khan and Kazi Ershadul Alam,  saying that the fire at the isolation unit was merely an accident and  there was no negligence on the part of the hospital.

Mustafizur told this newspaper that a criminal case has been filed on June 3 in connection with the fire.

An officer has been investigating the incident, he said, adding that the investigation will uncover the reasons for the fire. 

The lawyer added that the hospital authorities could not take  permission from Rajuk to build the unit because of time constraints as  it was built with in a short time to provide urgent treatment to  Covid-19 patients.

The authorities had tried to install adequate fire extinguishers in  the unit, but could not find technicians instantly due to the ongoing  coronavirus pandemic, the lawyer added.

On June 2, the same HC bench sought probe reports from Rajuk, fire  service, DMP, and the hospital. They were asked to submit their probe  reports to the court by yesterday.  

The HC bench issued the order following a writ petition filed by  Supreme Court lawyer Niaz Mohammad Mahboob seeking necessary orders.

Niaz submitted the petition as a public interest litigation to the  HC on May 31, seeking its directives on the authorities concerned to  give Tk 5 crore to each victim's family and to take necessary  action against the persons responsible for the incident.

In the petition, the lawyer included the reports published in The  Daily Star and the Prothom Alo, saying that there was negligence on part  of the authorities concerned in rescuing the victims.