Prevention is better than cure the watch word that has been put into practice by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). GHMC has given a month's time to all hospitals big and small, government and private, to initiate fire safety measures or face action like cancellation of the registration. Commissioner M.T. Krishna Babu also warned the hospitals authorities that the premises would be sealed if the safety measures are not in place.

The recent awakening of the authorities is aftermath to the ghastly fire accident that claimed so many lives and left several injured at Kolkatta’s AMRI hospital last week. The incident only exposed the carelessness of all involved. So the event was not the outcome of missing equipment but of switching off the equipment to draw a deep puff. So the authorities have to keep tab on the functioning of the equipment with periodic checks. Also a small question arises in the common man, that how could these hospitals function flaunting the basic norms?

Similarly the multiplexes are also other areas were large public gather at peak hours and safety norms must be guaranteed by the authorities. As per the US standard rule the exit way must have an inbuilt area of about a 5ftx5ft space for every individual user. At any given point of time the shoppers and the cinema goers put together could be approximately around 500- 700 people on the stairway. Have we got enough space to move down safely incase of emergencies?

It may be noted 93 persons who suffocated to death in the blaze at Kolkata's AMRI hospital may well have been saved but for insensitive smokers who had turned off the smoke alarms before puffing.