Hyderabad, January 08: The state government has given green signal to construction of hospitals buildings over 30 m height.
With relaxation of rules, corporate hospitals will be permitted to build speciality hospitals between 30 m and 60 m height by following international standards of design, construction and certain additional fire safety measures.
The Andhra Pradesh Fire Prevention and Safety Measures in high-rise hospitals came into force from this week. Speaking to Express, Fire Services department and GHMC officials said three to four corporate hospitals like KIMS, Yashoda and one US-based corporate hospital had approached the government to permit them to construct such high-rise buildings.
The Fire Services department had received two applications for issuance of NOC for construction of hospital buildings above 30 m height, following which it wrote a letter to the government to issue new guidelines.
The government which appointed a high-powered committee to look into the issue, asked the GHMC to engage a reputed consultant for preparation of guidelines. The GHMC commissioner then engaged the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad (JNTU-H) which furnished draft fire safety guidelines in June 2010. The committee accepted the report, paving the way for high-rise hospital buildings.
—Agencies