The Odisha authorities misplaced little time in asserting a judicial probe into the fireplace at SCB Medical School and Hospital on Monday that killed 12 and left 14 with severe accidents, together with compensation for his or her households. On condition that the hospital is run by the state authorities, it should now allow the single-member (a district choose) fee that’s been appointed, to conduct an intensive probe that reveals all factors of failure in order that these liable for the fireplace are delivered to e-book.
The tragedy is a telling indictment of the poor maintenance of the state’s oldest hospital (established in 1944.) A facility this outdated is bound to have severe deficiencies when it comes to fashionable security requirements. The 2019 resolution to improve the hospital right into a “world-class, AIIMS-plus” facility would appear the best prescription — provided that implementation had matched ambition. The ₹4,400-crore challenge suffered a number of delays, with the deadline postponed from July 2024 to December 2025 after which to July 2026 — incomes stinging rebukes from the Odisha Excessive Courtroom. In the meantime, the protection of the hospital’s crumbling infrastructure appears to have taken a backseat. The state fireplace companies administration identified that the final fireplace security audit, carried out properly over a yr in the past, had instructed a number of measures. There seem to have been some surprising failures of routine operation as properly — the management valve of the automated sprinkler system being closed and the fireplace alarm switched off.
