Odisha government issues notice to SUM Hospital

The Odisha government has issued notice to the Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital, asking it why its clinical licence should not be cancelled, an official said on Thursday.

The Khordha district administration also issued notice over lack of fire safety measures in the hospital, which led to the death of 21 persons in a fire that broke out in the hospital on Monday evening, said the official.

Bhubaneswar city comes under Khordha district.

In February last year, the state government had asked the district administrations not to register any hospital or renew their licence if they do not produce fire safety clearance certificate.

However, the district administration had renewed the registration licence of the hospital in July this year even though it had no fire safety certificate.

According to a July 7 letter of Khordha District Collector, "the certificate of fresh registration shall be valid from April 6, 2016, to April 5, 2018".

Meanwhile, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) inquiring into black money asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to probe financial transactions of the Sikshya O Anusandhan (SOA) Charitable Trust, managed by SUM Hospital's owner Manoj Nayak.

The trust runs several institutions including the SUM Hospital.

The Commissionerate police arrested Nayak in the early hours on Thursday when he surrendered 56 hours after the hospital fire.

SIT Vice Chairman Justice Arijit Pasayat also asked Odisha Police to cooperate with the ED during their investigation.

"We received a letter from the SIT last night, asking us to cooperate with the ED to probe into the money transactions of Sikshya O Anusandhan Charitable Trust," said Director General of Police K.B. Singh.

The SIT asked the police to ensure that no document or evidence relating to the financial transactions of the trust and the hospital are tampered with or destroyed, the DGP said.

--IANS

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