No registration sans fire NOCs: TMC to hospitals

Taking a tough stand on the fire NOC compliance, the Thane Municipal Corporation on Friday said that the hospital registrations will be cancelled if they fail to file the fire NOC. It was revealed in the general body meeting that even the civic hospital of Thane also failed to complete the procedure of the fire NOC.

Only five hospitals have acquired the NOCs till date. There are 338 registered hospitals in city out of which 261 had applied for the renewal of NOC. However, only five hospitals actually fulfilled the criteria and have acquired the NOCs in the financial year that ended on April 1, 2018, informed a civic official.

The fire issue was the hot topic in Friday’s general body meeting of the TMC. The civic administration has declared that it will not renew registrations of the hospitals that have failed to acquire the fire NOCs.

The elected representatives alleged that the civic administration has lost interest in increasing the revenue of bigger hospitals and therefore, they are pressuring only small hospitals. The allegation were denied by civic administration.

Recently, the doctors’ association had met the guardian minister Eknath Shinde and had requested him make the rules lenient for old hospitals.

The fire department declared the fire NOCs will be given only on the compliance of all regulations as stipulated by the High Court.

PIL in HC

Activist Sapana Shrivastav had filed a litigation in the High Court alleging that many hospitals in the city do not have fire NOCs. A bench, headed by justice Naresh Patil and Anuja Prabhudesai, heard the litigation on Tuesday. The court had ordered to survey the hospitals that have applied and acquired for the fire NOCs.

“We have sent notices to all the hospitals and have asked them to get the NOCs as per the regulations. Till date only five hospitals have acquired the NOCs from the fire department. There will be no registrations till the hospitals do not get their NOCs,” warned RT Kendre, chief medical officer, Thane Municipal Corporation.

Even Kalwa Hospital, the biggest civic hospital in the city, does not have the fire NOC. The seven fire extinguishers have been expired on January 7, 2018 . No fire exits, no sand buckets and also no boards to guide are available in the hospital in case of fire.