Officials from the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) are conducting inspections in private medical college hospitals in the State to check for fire safety provisions, ramps and disaster management plans.
Director of Medical Education A. Edwin Joe said the inspection team, which includes officials from the fire safety and public works departments, will make recommendations on improvement to the colleges after the inspection.
All 15 self-financing colleges and the 10 deemed medical universities in the State would be inspected, a DME official said, and the process is due to be completed by January 25.
Government medical colleges have already been examined and the DME has sought ₹50 crore to build ramps and put in place fire safety measures, Dr. Joe said.
The inspections cover two aspects — buildings and equipment — said another DME official. Setback area, evacuation zones, easy approach to roads, staircases, lifts and ramps would be looked at, along with fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, sprinklers, emergency exits in floor plans, signage and other facilities.
Meanwhile, the Directorate of Rural and Medical Health Services (DMS) has completed the first phase of inspection in private hospitals for ramps, fire safety provisions and disaster management plans, an official said. The second phase will begin soon. In the first phase, around 1,800 hospitals across the State, including 285 in Chennai, were inspected.
Checks follow 2015 PIL
The inspections of all ground plus one-storey buildings with in-patient services come in the wake of a public interest litigation filed in 2015 by social activist Jawaharlal Shanmugam with regard to ramps in hospitals for patient evacuation during a disaster, and another miscellaneous petition on the implementation of building rules and regulations in hospitals. Another petitioner too, had impleaded in the case.
After the inspection of government hospitals, the DMS submitted a proposal to the Health Department, based on recommendations by the chief engineer of the Public Works Department (PWD) to sanction funds to put in place provisions. A sum of ₹13.42 crore for ramps and ₹12.66 crore for fire safety equipment were sought for government hospitals. An additional ₹3.64 crore was sought for fire safety equipment at primary health centres.
“The next step is to examine all electrical installations and the positioning of facilities such as the kitchen, laundries and general stores in order to minimise the risk of disasters,” said Mr. Shanmugam.
A report of the inspection will be presented to an expert committee in a meeting expected to be held in the third week of January.
