Maharashtra Govt blames 31 patient deaths in Nanded to “Referral” from private hospital

Mumbai : The Mumbai High Court bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor came down heavily against the Maharashtra State Government after the later pleaded that the spurt of deaths in Government hospital in Nanded and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar were primarily due to the referral of critical patients from private hospitals. At Dr. Shankarrao Chavan Government Medical College and hospital in Nanded 31 patients had died and in GMC and hospital in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar 18 patients have died between September 30 and October 3. The bench was hearing a suo motu PIL taking cognisance of the deaths that included large number of infants. The Government through its advocate general Birendra Saraf said that the burden of patients in the government hospitals is very high and though the death of patients are unfortunate as per the preliminary investigation it does not seem like gross negligence by the hospitals. On the response of the government the bench responded “You can’t escape by saying there is a burden of patients coming in. You are the State. You can’t shift the responsibilty to the private players.” 

The advocate general further said that patients were brought in critical conditions having been referred by private hospitals and to substantiate his point he pointed out that out of the 12 infants that died only 3 infants were born in the hospital. The bench pulled up the government by saying that effectively it meant that the medical staff position needs to be improved. The bench said that out of 325 sanctioned post only 278 has been filled and out of 97 sanctioned post of senior residents only 49 has been filled. The bench also took a swipe on the dipping health budget which has been consistently being reduced by the State Government and said that the results of low budget allocation is now visible. The bench has sought details from the state government on the healthcare situation in the State.