LAHORE: Fire safety and emergency evacuation arrangements at five of Lahore’s largest public-sector hospitals have been found unsatisfactory, prompting the Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education Department to order immediate corrective measures across Punjab’s government hospitals.
Questions have been raised over fire safety arrangements at Children’s Hospital, Mayo Hospital, Services Hospital, Jinnah Hospital and General Hospital — institutions that together handle a substantial share of the province’s tertiary care burden and admit thousands of patients daily, many of them critically ill and immobile.
According to sources, several years have passed since fire safety and emergency exit drills were last conducted at most government hospitals. At numerous locations, fire extinguishers are physically present but their working condition remains a question mark — a distinction that matters enormously in an emergency, since an unserviced or unrefilled extinguisher offers no protection at all.
Sources said the functionality of fire alarms, water hydrants and sprinkler systems at most hospitals are also doubtful. Questions have additionally surfaced regarding emergency evacuation plans, designated assembly points and the emergency command system that would govern any large-scale evacuation.
It has further emerged that no comprehensive fire safety audit of the major government hospitals was carried out during the current year. Questions have also been raised over the fire safety training records of staff posted in Intensive Care Units, Neonatal Intensive Care Units and nurseries — the very wards where patients are least able to evacuate themselves.
The concerns are not hypothetical. Fire incidents have previously occurred at Services Hospital at various locations including the ICU and the nursery. A distressing fire incident also took place in the nursery of Ganga Ram Hospital. A research survey examining the fire safety knowledge of Ganga Ram Hospital’s nursing staff was conducted in 2024.
Concern over fire safety arrangements in Punjab’s hospitals has intensified following the incident in Islamabad in which newborn babies lost their lives. At Mayo Hospital, a fire safety and emergency exit drill was conducted in 2024 with the cooperation of Rescue 1122, the Punjab Emergency Service that functions as the province’s principal first-response agency.
The Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education Department has directed that fire safety measures be ensured immediately at government hospitals. All hospitals have been ordered to guarantee the availability, accessibility and functional condition of fire extinguishers and water hydrants.
The Health Department has instructed that fire extinguishers undergo regular inspection, maintenance and timely refilling, and that fire alarms, hydrants and sprinkler systems be subjected to practical testing rather than paper verification.
Hospitals have also been ordered to re-examine their sanctioned electrical load and obtain a fresh certificate of electrical load capacity — a significant instruction given that overloaded circuits are among the most common ignition sources in older institutional buildings. Fire safety training records of ICU, NICU and nursery staff have been formally requisitioned.
Provincial Health Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique said regular fire safety training has been launched at hospitals in collaboration with Rescue 1122. A fire safety and emergency exit drill was conducted on Wednesday at the Outpatient Department of Services Hospital.
Khawaja Salman Rafique said smoke detectors and water sprinklers are also being installed at hospitals, and that all government hospitals have been directed to submit reports on their fire safety measures.
Medical experts say that in the event of a fire emergency, all exit routes must remain open at all times. Paper-based fire safety clearance alone is not sufficient; practical, on-ground verification of firefighting equipment, exit routes and emergency systems is essential.
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