HomeNewsGauhati High Court issues notice to Tripura on flouting safety norms in hospitalsPrint4/17/2012

Gauhati, Assam [India]

Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court Adarsh Kumar Gel has issued a notice to the Tripura Government on alleged flouting of safety norms by the hospitals and nursing homes of the state...

Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court Adarsh Kumar Gel has issued a notice to the Tripura Government on alleged flouting of safety norms by the hospitals and nursing homes of the state.

The notice was issued following a letter written to it by Leader of the Opposition in Tripura Assembly Ratan Lal Nath regarding the violation of safety norms by the hospitals.

Treating the letter as Public Interest Litigation (PIL), the Court issued the notice last week and asked the authority to submit a reply on the issue on April 20.

The issue surfaced following a devastating fire accident in AMRI hospital, Kolkata last year, where 92 people, mostly patients, including seven from Tripura, had been killed.

Mr Nath had alleged that the state government was patronising illegal private hospitals, nursing homes and a few commercial buildings in Agartala and even the state run hospitals did not follow the National Building Code (NBC) of India, 2005 and Tripura Building Rules (TBR), 2004.

Referring to the latest state government's clearance for running a hospital by Kolkata-based GPT Healthcare Pvt Ltd, Mr Nath said the hospital came up without minimum requirements of the norms and added despite the matter being brought to the notice of the state government, no action was taken.

'The hospital does not have ramps, fire fighting system, sprinkler, AC dumpers and blood bank. They have not even obtained occupancy certificate and fire safety certificate from the competent authority but the state government has allowed them to start functioning,' Mr Nath alleged.

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