List action taken after report on hospital fires, SC tells Gujarat government, Legal News, ET LegalWorld – Legal Firms

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Gujarat government to file an affidavit detailing the steps it has taken following the submission of the report of Justice DA Mehta-led Commission, which inquired into the 2020 hospital fires at Ahmedabad and Rajkot in which 13 Covid patients were charred to death.

Abench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli asked the Gujarat government to file the affidavit within a week after the Centre’s counsel Rajat Nair told the court that the inquiry commission report and the action taken report have been placed on the floor of the assembly. Appearing for victims’ kin, advocate Dushyant Dave said the SC should consider laying down norms for medical professionals and holding them accountable for such tragedies along with owners of the unauthorisedly constructed hospital buildings.

Dave said doctors seldom inform patients and their relatives about the line of treatment. “The medical profession is most unregulated. In case of a patient’s death, doctors face mild punishment. They should be booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder,” he said. He said most hospitals in Gujarat are in residential areas and violate town planning and municipal norms.

He said instead of acting against unauthorised buildings in residential areas, which were converted into hospitals without fire safety norms, Gujarat government has come out with a notification to regularise them.