Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has ordered a fresh audit of public sector health facilities across the province within 24 hours (Geo News).
The instructions follow the deaths of 14 infants in the gynaecology ward fire at PIMS in Islamabad.
What was ordered
A letter from the Chief Minister’s Office directs an immediate review of fire safety arrangements, emergency exits and firefighting equipment at public health facilities.
Deputy commissioners are to check the availability and functionality of fire extinguishers, and to assess the accessibility and suitability of emergency exits in consultation with Rescue 1122 teams.
Rescue 1122 is to review hydrant points near health facilities and identify where new ones are needed.
A complete review has been ordered of the safe functioning of air conditioners, electrical wiring and other electro-medical equipment.
Deputy commissioners are also to conduct monthly emergency drills at hospitals.
Relevant departments have one week to carry out rectification and installation work, and health departments must submit compliance reports.
What an audit can and cannot fix in a week
The list is sensible and every item on it is worth doing. Extinguishers that work, exits that open and drills that happen would have mattered on Wednesday morning.
But the specific failure at PIMS, as described by the federal health minister, was a building from 1984 that cannot take a sprinkler system. That is not something a deputy commissioner rectifies in seven days, and it is not on the list.
The Punjab order covers air conditioners and wiring — which is precisely where the PIMS report locates the ignition — so the audit is aimed at the right components. Whether provincial hospitals have the capital budget to replace what the audit finds is a separate question, and the letter does not address funding.
Elsewhere
The chief minister has also requested feasibility reports for installing technology-driven fire alarm safety systems.
PIMS is a federal facility in Islamabad and falls outside Punjab’s jurisdiction.
