New Delhi. 24 May 2021. Consequent to a request by the Chief Secretary, Govt of Kerala, to conduct a fire safety audit of Govt hospitals in various districts of Kerala, the Southern Naval Command deployed five teams on 14 May 21 to conduct fire safety audit of various hospitals in Ernakulam district.

After an initial assessment and taking into account the total number of hospitals that had to be audited in all the districts, an additional 22 teams were deputed with effect from 17 May 21 to undertake audit of hospitals in the remaining 13 districts of Kerala. Audit of 101 out of 140 Government/ Taluk hospitals and other treatment centres/ infrastructure handling COVID cases has been completed and the teams are expected to complete the audit of the remaining hospitals by 30 May 21. Teams from INS Zamorin and Indian Naval Academy at Ezhimala were deputed to conduct the audit of hospitals located in Kasaragod, Kannur and Kozhikode districts and the teams from INS Agrani, at Coimbatore were deputed for audit of hospitals in Palakkad.

The teams interacted with the staff of the district administration and the hospital staff at all the locations. The preliminary findings and recommendations have been intimated to the hospitals and the state administration. A detailed report would be forwarded on completion of the audit of all designated hospitals.