Govt lens on private hospitals in city; inspections get cracking in RR district

Hyderabad: Following the fire incident at Shine hospital, private hospitals in the State capital have been put under the scanner by the government with notices already served by respective DMHOs.

For the first time, Health, PCB and GHMC Disaster management wings are working in co-ordination to check whether hospitals are following required norms without fail. Nearly 1,600 hospitals from 10-bed and above are found to be on official records.

After obtaining the hospital registration (given for five-year period), some of the hospitals were found to be complacent in renewing fire NOC (No-objection Certificate) which has to be done every year without fail.

Also, negligence was being shown with regards to bio-medical waste control and management for which PCB approval is a must.

Already Ranga Reddy DMHO Dr Swarajya Lakshmi and her team have started inspecting private hospitals in her jurisdiction. Nearly 450 plus hospitals are running in Ranga Reddy district, but the initial focus is on 50-bed hospitals and above.

Daily four to five hospitals were being inspected by the authorities and those found to have any shortcomings are being issued show-cause notices.

After the Shine tragedy, Ranga Reddy District Collector reviewed the situation with district health officials and a decision was taken to check private hospitals thoroughly.

Meanwhile, Hyderabad DMHO Dr J Venkat said that they have served notices to 600-odd private hospitals in the district and they were given time till November 5 to fulfill required criteria without fail.

Many of the corporate and big hospitals in the State capital fall in Hyderabad district. According to Dr Venkat, the big hospitals comply with the rules without fail, but the problem is with small and medium hospitals which are found to have one shortcoming or the other.

He said show-cause notices would be served to hospitals found to violate rules in inspections that would commence from November 5.

Areas like Uppal, Malkajgiri, Alwal, Kompally, Medchal, Kukatpally, Quthbullapur that fall under Medchal district have a significant number of private hospitals and the district health administration is geared up for the task.

Medchal DMHO Dr N Narayana said that they served notices to hospitals already and inspections are likely to begin in three days. He said good response was coming from hospitals after they were asked to furnish fire NOC and other required documents.

Around 10 hospitals have submitted the requisite permissions needed. EV & DM (Enforcement, Vigilance and Disaster Management) Director Viswajit Kampati (IPS) stated that they have written to health department in January this year about the ignorant attitude of private hospitals towards fulfilling fire safety norms and NOC renewals.

From our end notices have been served to a majority of the private hospitals in GHMC limits, he said, adding that inspections would be soon carried out in these hospitals.