Hospitals have become large industries, better close them: SC

The Supreme Court on Monday observed that hospitals have become large industries thriving on human distress and it is better they are closed The top court added state governments can provide better hospitals instead of permitting private hospitals to operate from small residential buildingsA bench comprising Justice DY Chandrachud and MR Shah said Hospitals have become large industries now based on human distress and we cannot let them prosper at the cost of lives Let such hospitals be closed The bench pulled up the Gujarat government for extending the deadline for hospitals in connection with building use permissionsThe bench cited that one patient had recovered from Covid19 and had to be released the next day but he died due to fire and also two nurses were burnt alive These are human tragedies which have unfolded before our eyes Then we go on extending time for these hospitals he saidThe bench said hospitals have become a real estate industry and instead of providing succour to patients in distress it is widely felt they have become money minting machines which fleece patientsSolicitor General Tushar Mehta on his part submitted before the bench that visualise the impact if a 10story building with 45 bedded hospital which was required for Covid19 treatment now doesnt have building use permission Mehta added resultantly hospitals were required to be closed and in total 30000 beds could become unavailableJustice Chandrachud responded there is no point in condoning lapses of these nursing homes which are not supposed to be in those buildings in the first place Justice Shah added if any recommendation is made you see to it that corrective measure is takenLet the state provide those facilities and Covid19 care centres We cant have them in these small residential buildings said the benchReferring to a government notification that hospitals do not have to adhere to the norms till June 2022 the bench said Once a mandamus is there it cannot be overridden by an executive notification like this You now give a carte blanche and say hospitals dont have to adhere till 2022 and people will continue dying and be burntThe top court strongly condemned a report by a commission on the issue of fire safety in hospitals that was filed in a sealed cover What is this report in a sealed cover by the commission etc It is not a nuclear secret said Justice Chandrachud The top court told the Gujarat government to withdraw the notification giving relaxation to hospitalsIn December last year the court had directed the Centre to submit data from all states on fire safety audits carried out in hospitals The court noted that although different states and union territories have taken measures and conducted inspections further audits were required and asked the state government to constitute a committee to carry out a fire audit of each Covid19 hospital at least once in a month in each district The bench listed the matter for further hearing after two weeksThe Court was hearing a suo motu case concerning fire tragedies in Covid19 hospitals across the country following incidents in Rajkot and AhmedabadThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever