KOZHIKODE: In May last year, the Fire and Rescue services had sought the immediate intervention of Medical Council of India (MCI) as the hospitals in the state, including the medical college hospitals and prominent private hospitals where thousands of patients and visitors gather, violated fire and safety norms after repeated requests. However, recent bold steps by the fire office and district administration in Kozhikode had resulted in week-long inspections at major hospitals, including Government Medical College Hospital and KMCT Medical College and they finally agreed to comply with the rules.
Then district collector N Prasanth had ordered the closure of KMCT Medical College in his capacity as chair of district disaster management authority. The closure in November last year took place after a series of violations and dismissal of directions from the officials from as early as December 2011. Unfortunately, such bold steps are not taken in all districts and rarely big hospitals are shut failing to install proper fire fighting system. The department had earlier reported that in Kozhikode, only less than six hospitals comply with the fire and rescue norms and the others put the life of hundreds of people who arrive there everyday in danger. In the backdrop of the October 21 fire at SUM hospital, Bhubaneswar, a week-long re-inspection was carried out in the hospitals here and violations were found.
