SUM Hospital tragedy: Audit team set up to inspect hospitals

Bhubaneswar: After the SUM hospital tragedy, the Khurda district administration has set up an audit team to inspect all the private and government hospitals in the district.

According to sources, the team will review the fire safety arrangements in all these hospitals and check whether the guidelines of the clinical establishment act are being followed or not. Moreover, the audit team will also check for BDA and pollution-related clearances.

As a part of this drive, the Khurda ADMO and the additional tehsildar inspected the facilities at the Kalinga hospital in Bhubaneswar today.

"As a part of the audit, we will lay emphasis on the fire safety and bio-medical waste management," said Khurda ADMO Narayan Prasad Behera.

"We have put in place all possible systems and if a government squad comes and certifies that everything is okay then it is a welcome step for us," said Kalinga Hospital Superintendent Srikant Mohapatra.

On the other hand, demanding unconditional release of arrested SUM Hospital owner Manoj Nayak, a call for strike across all private technical and vocational educational institutes in State has been given by 6 associations representing private institutions.

"We demand unconditional release of Manoj Nayak as there is no direct involvement of him and his family members should not be harassed," said OPECA Secretary Binod Dash.