'Ensure cooking is done exclusively at the hospital kitchen or inside approved canteen'

Kolkata: State Health department has issued a circular to superintendents and principals of all medical colleges and also to the Chief Medical Officer of Health in the districts instructing them to strictly ensure that cooking, preparing tea and even electricity-based heating cannot be performed at any place inside the health establishments other than the kitchen.

The Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMoHs) in all the districts have been asked to pay surprise visits to such establishments under their jurisdiction from time to time to ensure that cooking-related activities are not carried out outside the kitchen. Action may be taken if any lapses are found in any government health establishments. In the case of the city's medical colleges, superintendents have to ensure that such incidents do not happen.

"In order to avert fire hazards within hospital premises, it is directed to immediately ensure that cooking is done exclusively at the hospital kitchen or inside the approved canteen. No other area of the hospital will be utilized for cooking."

The circular comes five days after a fire broke out at the CT scan room of SSKM Hospital. There were incidents reported in the past where cooking activities took place inside the hospitals apart from the kitchen. The health department is now going to deal with such incidents with utmost sincerity. The main objective of the move is to check any incident of fire. After the SSKM fire episode, the Health department once again felt the need to implement certain restrictions on cooking-related activities. It may also be mentioned that a similar incident occurred outside the kitchen of a medical college in the past. However, in connection with the recent SSKM fire incident, no such incident has been established so far in the investigation.