- Friday, April 26, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE Supreme Court of India on Monday (19) rapped the state government of the western state of Gujarat for bringing a notification that reversed a court order on fire safety norms in hospitals that treat Covid patients, despite the deaths of a number of patients in several fire incidents.
Judges of the top court accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of the state to say that the notification only gave more time to hospitals that do not have a fire-safety system and till they take action, patients will continue to die.
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“The notification gives the impression that the state is protecting illegality,” the court said.
“Once there is an order by us, it cannot be overridden by an executive notification like this. You (Gujarat) now give carte blanche and say hospitals do not have to adhere (to the order) till 2022 and people will continue to die by burning,” Justice DY Chandrachud said.
“At Nashik (Maharashtra) one person recovered and was to be released next day. Two nurses went to washroom. All were burnt alive,” Justice Chandrachud said. “These are human tragedies unfolded before our eyes. Hospitals have become large real estate industry and they survive on human stress. Hospitals in small four rooms must be closed,” he added.
The judges sought the state to explain the notification through an affidavit and asked it to submit an action report over fire-safety audit conducted under the state’s order of December last year.
The state government wanted time to file its reply but the apex court questioned the notification today. “We read in newspapers that Gujarat had brought out a notification giving time till March 2022 for hospitals to comply with our orders,” Justice M R Shah, who was on the bench, said.
In November 2020, six people got killed in a fire at a hospital in Rajkot in Gujarat where Covid patients were treated. The police reportedly said the fire started in the hospital’s intensive care unit and investigation revealed negligence on part of the hospital’s authorities led to the tragedy.
The Supreme Court called the incident “shocking” and said the state was suppressing facts.
“According to you (Gujarat) everything is good, but your stand is contrary to your own Chief Electrical Engineer’s report about wiring,” the court had said.
In September last year, a fire broke out inside an intensive care unit ward at the Sir Sayajirao General Hospital in Vadodara, some 110 kilometres from the city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat.
In May, 18 people died in another hospital fire in Bharuch in the state. The Gujarat High Court had declared that “somebody had to be made accountable.”
The high court said the state government failed to take action on its previous orders on preventing fire incidents. “It amounts to the contempt of courts, of all the orders passed by the courts in the past. Ultimately, it amounts to the contemptuous action on the part of the state for not being vigilant so that such incidents are not repeated again and again,” it added.
