Ensure ramp facilities in high-rise hospitals: Madras High Court

Chennai: The Madras high court has directed the government to ensure that all high-rise hospitals in the state have ramp facilities for the benefit of the patient, staff and visitors in case of emergencies.

 

The first bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Pushpa Narayanan before which a PIL filed by Jawaharlal Shanmugam of Thiruvanmiyur came up for hearing, has passed the interim order and adjourned the mat-ter to January 19, 2016.

 

The petitioner submitted that several multi-specialty hospitals including government and private hospital were functioning in high-rise buildings. The managements do not give due importance for safety of patients, staffs and visitors. In case of emergencies, it also becomes difficult to evacuate patients. Hence, he sought direction to the authorities to set up ramp in these hospitals.

 

The bench said that CMDA should have a list of high-rise buildings where hospitals are run and that it would not be difficult for it to ensure that necessary facilities, as suggested by the petitioner,  are made available in these hospitals. If some of them do not have the facility,  then notice be issued for purpose of compliance.