Irate by the negligence of private hospitals in Indore to submit their fire NOC, collector Ilayaraja T has asked the chief medical and health officer to serve a final ultimatum to the hospitals before taking action. Surprisingly, private hospitals have brushed off multiple warnings from the administration and health department in the last six months.
These hospitals are running without any fire NOC from the Indore Municipal Corporation nor have they renewed permission from the health department but are operating the institutes, thanks to ignorant health department officials. Chief Medical and Health Officer Dr BS Saitya said that they have identified as many 112 private hospitals which are running sans fire safety measures in the district.
“We are serving an ultimatum of seven days to these hospitals on the direction of the district collector. It will be the last notice after which we will take action of cancelling the registration and sealing the hospital,” Dr Saitya said.
Earlier, health officials had identified 60 hospitals with less than 50 bed capacity instructing them to undertake fire certificates instead of fire NOC. The facilities were identified after changes in norms for fire NOC. The new norms were issued on January 16. The new norms mandated fire NOC for facilities with at least 50 beds or hospital buildings having a height of 15 metres or more or having a constructed area of 500 square metres on any level.
“We have identified around 60 facilities with at least 50 beds or hospital buildings having a height of 15 metres or more or having a constructed area of 500 square metres on any level. These facilities don’t need fire NOC. They will have to undergo a survey for a certificate from empanelled fire safety experts,” the CMHO said.
