Most major hospitals in the national capital, including Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital and Safdarjung Hospital, lack valid no objection certificate (NOC), according to the Delhi Fire Services (DFS) sources.

This has been revealed in a scrutiny of major hospitals following the August 17 fire at the teaching and PC block of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). The trauma centre at RML, emergency block at Safdarjung Hospital, casualty block at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) and GB Pant Hospital didn't have valid fire NOCs either, said the sources. "When a hospital applies for NOC, people from our department visit it and check if the parametres are met. If not, then we tell them about the shortcomings," said a fire officer.

The officer said when the fire occurred at AIIMS even though there was surplus water supply and hydrants, the bigger fire tenders could not enter as the mandatory six-metre road, which should be left on all sides, was not available. "It's mandatory for high-rises to have six-metre road space on all sides to allow big fire tenders. In the absence of that at AIIMS, it took us time to douse the fire," the officer said.

At AIIMS, over 30 fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the fire. The fire department sources said they were checking records to see the condition of other hospitals as well. "It was a Saturday when the AIIMS fire occurred and moreover it was not a patient block. Had it been in the afternoon or any other block it would have been tougher and worse," said a fire fighter.