Chandigarh, Oct 25 (IANS): Chemists overcharging patients within the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER) premises here are on the radar, hospital Director Vivek Lal said on Wednesday.

On the massive fire that broke out in Nehru Hospital on the night of October 9 and another fire that broke out in the Advanced Eye Centre on October 16, Lal told the media that short-circuit in UPS batteries was the cause of the fire and no dereliction of duty was found as per the probe.

He said two decisions have been taken: First, the entire upkeep of the UPS battery systems backup has been handed over to the biomedical division; second, UPS batteries being identified as the hotspot are being shifted from the premises to safer places or at the edge of the buildings so that the smoke goes out in case of fire.

Most of the work in this regard has been initiated, the Director said.

About the report submitted by the constituted committee regarding both the fire incidents, he said, “It’s nothing less than a miracle that despite a massive fire, 424 patients, mostly from ICU and labour room, were evacuated without even a scratch to them.

“It goes to the credit of the gritty and alert PGI team that they made the unthinkable happen. But miracles don’t happen every time, so we have already initiated the audit of potential hotspots and are committed to upgrade and strengthen the number of fire extinguishers, sprinklers and other latest fire-fighting equipment within a timeline of three months to avert any such mishap in the future,” he said.

On overcharging of medicines by some chemists, the PGIMER Director said, “We will do anything and everything for patient's care. So a committee has been constituted to verify the complaints and accordingly suitable action will be taken against the errant chemists. For us at PGIMER, patient's well-being is supreme and we cannot tolerate any compromise on that.”