Expired fire extinguishers adorn the walls

VIJAYAWADA: In complying, or rather not complying, with fire safety norms government hospitals are no different from any other private hospital. Express team, on Friday, visited both new and old government hospitals in the city and found glaring lapses in fire safety measures.The negligence of the government general hospital and medical college near Ramavarppadu ring road, with a capacity of 590 beds, can be gauged by a look at the fire extinguishers.They were installed in 2007 and expired the next year, but no one appears to think of replacing them with new ones.When asked, an officer at the hospital, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said no one was bothered about fire safety. They were asked by the fire department only three days ago to increase the number of fire extinguishers and install pipelines for fire hoses, he said. However, both security personnel and nursing staff said they were not aware of how to use extinguishers.It is a similar story at the old government general hospital in the city. Here, there are no fire extinguishers at all.