The Odisha Health Minister’s wife is an employee of one of the institutions run by the Siksha O Anusandhan (SOA) Charitable Trust that owns the SUM hospital in Bhubaneswar, where a fire claimed 21 lives on Monday. This hints at a conflict of interest in the ongoing investigation into the tragedy.
State Health Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak’s wife is an Assistant Professor at a management institute run by the SOA Charitable Trust.
Manoj Nayak, Chairman of the SOA Charitable Trust, was arrested after surrendering before police in Bhubaneswar Thursday morning, but it’s business as usual at the hospital, which is running without a valid fire safety certificate even three days after the tragedy.
How is it that the hospital is able to operate without valid clearances? Questions are also being raised by aggrieved relatives of the victims over Manoj Nayak not being named in the two FIRs filed by the Odisha government agencies.
Conflict of Interest?
The Directorate of Medical Education and Training (DMET) is the Head of the Department under the Health Ministry, responsible for issuing all necessary clearances to the medical colleges in the state. The DMET filed an FIR against the SUM hospital management for negligence, but without naming anyone.
Interestingly, the official website of the Institute of Business and Computer Sciences (IBCS), where Health Minister Nayak’s wife is employed, and which gives details of its faculty members, has gone offline after the fire tragedy.
As the DMET directly reports to the Health Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, and has not taken any action against the SUM Hospital for running without all necessary clearances, this smacks of a larger malice about the soft approach of the Health Department towards the hospital.
Big Questions
- Why was the SUM hospital allowed to run without a fire safety certificate since 2013?
- Health Minister’s wife is an employee of the business group that owns the SUM hospital. Will the investigation reach its logical end?
- Has SUM hospital owner, Manoj Nayak, not been named in FIRs because of his close ties with the ruling party leaders?
- Why there is no action against the government officials who allowed the SUM hospital to run without necessary clearances?
Hospital Was Running Without NOC Since 2013
The FIR filed by the Fire Officer, Cuttack Range, at the Khandgiri Police Station, accessed by The Quint, shows the hospital was running without a fire safety certificate since 2013. As per the FIR, the fire audit of the SUM hospital was conducted in 2013 and several shortcomings were noticed and intimated to the hospital authority for necessary compliance.
But the SUM hospital has not obtained any valid Fire Safety Certificate, as per the FIR.
The Envious Rise Of Manoj Nayak
Dr Manoj Nayak, the owner of an education business empire in Odisha that runs SUM hospital, who is now being interrogated at an undisclosed location in Bhubaneswar, is known for his political clout across the party line. A former engineering college professor ventured out as an education entrepreneur in the year 1996 and since then he has established an empire of medical and engineering colleges in Odisha.
In 2000, Manoj Nayak was named in an FIR filed by the Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE) authorities, which conducts the entrance test to engineering colleges, for forgery and cheating. It involved the alleged luring of students, who scored low ranks in OJEE, to get admission into the private engineering college ITER.
According to the local media reports, because of his close connections with then BJD minister Nalinikant Mohanty, Nayak evaded arrest though named in the chargesheet. Later, the Odisha High Court quashed the case.
Nayak belongs to the constituency of the present Health Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak. His close connection with the Health Minister is said to be behind the running of the SUM hospital without adhering to the legal requirements.
He is also close to both the opposition parties BJP and Congress.
Last November, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) had held its 61st National Executive meet at SOA university, with the university providing venue and bearing all related expenses, according to sources.
Should the Liability of Government Officials Be Fixed?
The Fire Service Department conducted a fire audit of the SUM hospital in the year 2013 and found many shortcomings. But there was no action by the department for noncompliance. The SUM hospital is running without a valid fire safety certificate even after the fire accident that caused the death of 21 patients.
On the other hand the SUM Hospital authorities claim that they had complied with all the suggested fire safety norms and applied for renewal of the fire safety certificate. But the Fire Service Department has not renewed the certificate despite several applications.
The Directorate of Medical Education and Training has also filed an FIR against the SUM hospital for negligence. The DMET issues advisory to all the medical colleges in the state from time to time to adhere to the safety norms. In the case of SUM hospital, DMET authorities have failed to monitor the strict implementation of the safety norms.
The angry relatives of the deceased patients now demand action against both the Fire Safety Department and the DMET authorities for their omissions.
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