On Friday, the Supreme Court while hearing a plea of Fire Tragedy at a Rajkot Hospital, Gujarat in which 5 Covid-19 patients have died, has now taken Suo moto cognisance of the shocking incident.
A three-judge Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shahsought a reply from the Gujarat government on the incident while also taking strong exception to implementation of fire safety mechanism in hospitals across the country.
During the course of hearing, Justice MR Shah said that;
“This is not done. This is happening in different hospitals. There needs to be inspection whether electrical lines are proper or not. How does this short circuit happen. Report given to High Court with respect to fire safety is shocking! You don’t have the chief officer,”
Observing that the guidelines issued by the Central Govt. to follow by all States are hardly implements, said Justice Reddy. And in many cases there are either no fire extinguishers or an electrical line default.
In its June 19 order, the Supreme Court had passed slew of directions to the States/Union Territories with the object of continuous supervision and monitoring of government hospitals, COVID dedicated hospitals and other hospitals taking care of COVID patients.
Today, the court noted that enough steps were not being implemented to contain spread of Covid-19; and development of vaccines was only at the trail stage. The Bench has further remarked that;
“Look at the gatherings in states. Second wave has started. Need of the hour is social distancing and mask. We are watching marriages we are seeing political processions. 60 percent not wearing masks and masks are hanging on their jaws,”
After due hearing of the matter, the Court ordered the Central Government to submit a report regarding the steps taken to avoid fire hazards. It also directed the Gujarat government to submit a report on Rajkot fire accident by Tuesday next week (i.e., 01-12-2020).
Therefore, the court has adjourned the matter on December 1.
