Health Minister Veena George has ordered a security audit of all drug warehouses in the State in light of the fire outbreak that gutted a Kerala Medical Services Corporation (KMSC) godown in Thumba here.
This is the second fire outbreak to have taken place in a drug warehouse of the KMSC in a week. The district drug warehouse in Kollam was gutted in fire with the loss pegged at ₹8 crore on May 17. The unnatural frequency of such occurrences has raised concerns of the quality of chemicals stocked by the KMSC.
In a statement here on Tuesday, Ms. George said the audit will be jointly undertaken by the Health department, Kerala Fire and Rescue Services, and other departments. Safety audits will also be conducted in hospitals.
Directions have been issued for a comprehensive inquiry into the fire accident at the Kinfra Park, she added. Forensic and other investigations will be conducted as part of the probe. The results of the forensic test in the Kollam fire are awaited.
The Minister also stated that the KMSC had been ordered to issue alerts and undertake inspections in all of its drug warehouses. The facilities at Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram has been functioning for over 10 years.
KMSC managing director Jeevan Babu K. told mediapersons that the quality of the stocked bleaching powder will be examined. He added that such chemicals had been stored separately to minimise the chance of a fire accident.
