Ceilings keep falling in a new ₹270 crore hospital block in Kerala, and the health minister seeks a vigilance probe

The block opened on Feb. 16 under the previous Left Democratic Front government. Since then, sections of ceiling have collapsed repeatedly, and the minister's office says the plumbing, wiring and civil work have defects too, PTI reported. In one case PTI described, on Oct. 23, part of a false ceiling dropped onto a waiting area outside the ophthalmology department, where patients sit before tests. No one was standing there and no one was hurt.

On Nov. 5 Muraleedharan wrote to Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala asking the bureau to look at construction defects, failures in how the work was carried out and supervised, and possible financial irregularities. He also told the health department to form a technical committee to check the building's structural safety and recommend urgent repairs, according to his office.

The contract went to Jatan Construction. The South First reported allegations that the company handed the work on to other agencies; investigators are to check whether that subletting broke the contract, along with the quality of materials and workmanship. None of this has been proven, and the reports carried no response from the company. Corruption complaints about the project had reached the bureau before, PTI reported in October. The new block took in patients and departments from an older building after part of that building collapsed a year earlier, killing a woman. No deadline has been announced for the committee or the vigilance inquiry.