Hyderabad: Telangana has set a one-month deadline to complete fire, electrical and structural safety audits in all govt hospitals, following a review chaired by health minister Damodar Raja Narasimha at the secretariat on Thursday.
Audits must also verify whether fire safety equipment is functional, rather than merely checking its presence, he said. The minister directed officials to ensure that audit findings are followed by time-bound corrective action, with life-threatening deficiencies rectified immediately. He also ordered that fire and electrical safety audits will be conducted every six months, while structural audits will be carried out annually. Officials have been asked to classify deficiencies as emergency, immediate or routine, based on their severity.
A state-level monitoring committee headed by the health minister will oversee the programme across districts. The government will also provide separate funds for regular maintenance of fire and electrical safety equipment and assign clear responsibility for its upkeep at each hospital. The minister further directed officials to strengthen monitoring of fire safety compliance in private hospitals, stressing that patient safety must remain the priority during inspections and corrective action.