Hosps to be fined heavily to control mosquito breeding

During a workshop for private hospital owners and doctors held at Ripon Buildings on Thursday, G Prakash, Chennai Corporation Commissioner, said that civic officials would visit the hospitals and impose penalties if they are not maintained well. “There are around 600 bedded hospitals and 10,000 dispensaries in the city. Hospital management should remove unused items from their terrace and backyards. Doctors should also create awareness on source reduction among their patients,” he said.

The civic body would levy a fine of Rs 1 lakh and Rs 25,000 from hospitals with more than 50 beds and less than 50 beds respectively for first-time violators. If mosquito breeding is found at hospital for a second time, the penalty will shoot up to Rs 5 lakh and Rs 1 lakh. The third time, the fines will be Rs 10 lakh and Rs 2 lakh.

Meanwhile, the civic body has identified more than 24,000 vacant plots and 6,000 closed houses. “Apart from clearing mosquito breeding in those places, we will conduct periodic inspections at 4,500 government buildings in the city. We have separated the city into 3,000 blocks with each block comprising of 500 houses. Corporation workers will visit all the houses once in a week,” Prakash added.

The civic body has provisions to impose penalties against owners of residential buildings, construction sites, hospitals, educational institutions, industrial and commercial establishments. From August 1, the civic body collected Rs 10 lakh from building owners, who failed to keep their premises free from mosquito breeding.