Maharashtra to blame long weekend in private hospitals for 31 deaths in Nanded: Report

The Maharashtra government is likely to blame long weekend in private hospitals for the deaths of 31 people in Nanded, NDTV reported on Thursday. In the last few days, scores of deaths were recorded at Dr Shankarrao Chavan government medical college and hospital at Nanded.  

The state government, which has come under pressure for the deaths, is likely to tell the court that private hospitals near the medical college and hospital at Nanded had few staff due to back-to-back holidays.

The private hospitals referred critical cases, many of them newborns, to the government hospital and this pushed up the death count at the Nanded facility, the state government is set to tell the court as per the report. Private healthcare units are responsible for the deaths of at least 10 newborns that were reported at the Nanded hospital, the state government is likely to say in its affidavit.

On Wednesday, the Bombay High Court took suo motu cognisance of the deaths at the state government-run hospitals at Nanded and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and sought details from the Maharashtra government. The court asked Advocate General Birendra Saraf, appearing for the state government, to submit the details about the state's budgetary allocation for health on Friday. The court also noted that the reasons given by doctors citing the shortage of beds, staff, and essential medicines cannot be accepted.

The police have registered an FIR against the acting dean and a doctor of Dr Shankarrao Chavan Government Medical College and Hospital, where 31 patients died in 48 hours. The case was lodged against the hospital's acting dean S R Wakode and a head paediatrician, following a complaint by a person in connection with the death of his daughter and her newborn child at the facility.

They were booked under Indian Penal Code sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 34 (common intention), the official said. As many as 31 deaths, including those of infants, were recorded at the hospital in 48 hours since September 30. Six more deaths were recorded at the facility from October 2 to 3, the officials told PTI.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday said his government had taken the deaths at the Nanded hospital very seriously, and appropriate action would be taken after a detailed inquiry while denying that there were shortages of medicines and staff.

(With inputs from PTI)