THE TIMES OF INDIA, Kolhapur, TNN | Jun 21, 2015, 05.52 AM IST
KOLHAPUR: Old hospitals in the city can soon breathe a sigh of relief as the health department of the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC) has decided to relax fire and parking norms to facilitate renewal of their licences.
In 2012, the KMC stalled the process of renewing licences of as many as 194 hospitals. These hospitals, most of them being more than two decades old, lacked adequate fire safety measures and parking facilities, which was leading to traffic jams along the roadside.
In its notification issued in early 2012, the state government had directed all the civic bodies across the state to scrutinise disaster management measures at the hospitals having in-patient department (IPD) facility. To ensure the legality of the directions, the government even made changes in the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measure Act, 2009.
The KMC has stopped the registration process of most of the hospitals with beds strength from 0 to 100. As per the Act, a hospital comes under the category of special buildings such as cinema and wedding halls and should have a main entrance with adequate width to allow easy access to the fire engine. In no case, it shall measure less than 4.5m.
Dilip Patil, chief health officer in the KMC, said, “Corporators have objected to the provisions related to parking and fire safety facilities. They believe no such facilities can be developed in old hospitals located in central parts of the city. We will relax the norms so that minimum fire safety equipment requirements such as extinguishers can be considered. Besides, the hospitals lacking adequate parking facilities will be charged so that the KMC can make arrangements accordingly for them.”
Moreover, the KMC is also likely to make the process of procuring utilization certificate and change in land use simple and quick. Without fire and parking facilities in place, it is illegal to use a building for the said purpose. The hospitals are registered with the civic bodies as per the Maharashtra Nursing Home Registration Act.
Anand Kamat, office-bearer of the Kolhapur chapter of Indian Medical Association, said, “The Nashik and Aurangabad civic bodies have relaxed fire safety and parking norms for the hospitals in old buildings in 2012. Despite ensuring minimum safety provision, most of our hospitals have not been given no-objection certificates by the fire and estate department required to renew licences.”
