Shruti Suman
The dean of a government-run medical college and hospital in Maharashtra’s Nanded, originally assigned the duty of cleaning toilets, now faces a police case. A case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder has been filed against him and another doctor after the hospital reported 31 deaths within 72 hours. Alongside the dean, another doctor has been implicated in the case.
The Nanded rural police registered an FIR against the acting dean, Dr. SR Wakode, and the other doctor based on a complaint from the relative of a newborn who passed away at the hospital. A conviction for culpable homicide not amounting to murder can result in a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
The complainant alleges that the newborn died due to the negligence of the dean and the child specialist. According to the complaint, the family purchased medicines from outside the hospital and waited, but no doctor attended to the newborn. When they sought assistance from the dean’s office, they were allegedly turned away.
This development comes one day after the dean filed a police complaint against a member of parliament from the ruling Shiv Sena party, who had instructed him to clean a filthy toilet at the hospital.
Hemant Patil who is Lok Sabha MP from Nanded, visited the Dr. Shankarrao Chavan Government Medical College and Hospital following reports of 31 deaths in 72 hours, including 16 children. In response to Mr. Wakode’s complaint, Mr. Patil has been charged with offenses related to obstructing a public servant from performing his duties, defamation, and criminal intimidation. The MP also faces charges under relevant provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The hospital’s dean claimed in his complaint that the MP’s actions had elevated his blood pressure levels.
The video of the hospital dean cleaning toilets at the MP’s behest went viral, sparking strong reactions on social media. Some users supported the MP for taking action against the dean, while others believed that the local administration was employing diversionary tactics to evade responsibility for the poor conditions at the state-run hospital.
The presence of pigs roaming around the hospital premises has raised significant concerns about the facility’s hygiene standards.
The Eknath Shinde government has denied any shortage of medicines and doctors at the hospital. However, patients’ relatives have alleged that senior doctors were not available, and junior doctors were left to attend to patients. They also claimed that medicines were unavailable at the hospital, and patients’ families were instructed to procure them from outside sources.
