Health staff is not trained to do structural audit - Tope

Aurangabad, Jan 10:

Health minister Rajesh Tope blamed the accident at Bhandara on the Public Works Department, saying that the incident may have been due to neglect of maintenance and repair of electrification by the department as health staff is not trained to do structural audits. He was speaking to reporters at a meeting organized by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Aurangabad on Sunday.

Tope said, 100 per cent electrical, structural and fire audit of every hospital in the state will be done. A committee appointed to probe the accident at Bhandara has been reshuffled. This committee has been set up under the chairmanship of Nagpur divisional commissioner. It also includes the Maharashtra fire services, director of health, and engineers from the PWD. The inquiry report will come in 3 days. He also said that the staff of the neonatal department needs training on how to deal with such situations. Electrical, structural and fire audits of hospitals across the state will be conducted. A letter has been issued to conduct this audit. Tope also clarified that the district surgeon gives the letter to the PWD for maintenance and repair in the hospital. However, work is done according to the availability of funds.

15 per cent of buildings in the state of health

About 15 per cent of the total buildings in the state are related to health services. So funds should be received according to the number of buildings. If the funds are not received on time, maintenance is not done on time, said Tope.