Private hospitals remain shut in Odisha
Bhubaneswar, May 25: Healthcare services were affected in Odisha as thousands of private clinics, hospitals and diagnostic centres remained closed on Friday, officials said.
Hospitals across Odisha supporting the 24-hour ceasework strike called by the All Odisha Private Medical Establishment Forum (AOPMEF) demanding several amendments to the Odisha Clinical Establishments (Control and Regulation) Act were closed.
Medical practitioners of private hospitals and clinics staged demonstrations demanding amendment of the Odisha Clinical Establishments Act.
According to the new rules, the conditions for registration of private clinics and hospitals have been made more stringent.
The AOPMEF is demanding amendments in the Act, especially the one that requires the establishments to adhere to fire safety norms.
Clinics will have to get a fire safety certificate from the fire department and a no objection certificate from the pollution control board.
"More than 90 per cent of private clinics and hospitals are unregistered due to the stringent conditions in the Act. If the government does not renew the registration by relaxing the norms, we have no other way but to shut down," said Ajoy Kumar Mishra, president of the forum.
Meanwhile, the Health Department has asked all government health institutions including government medical colleges and hospitals to be ready to meet the emergency situation arising due to the strike.
The leave of all doctors and workers has been cancelled and more paramedical staff and doctors have been appointed in the casualty, trauma care and women and maternal care departments, said Director of health services B. Brahma.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
