The Bombay High Court on October 4 took suo motu cognisance of 35 deaths, including infants, that took place in a government-run hospital in the Nanded district of Maharashtra as it stated that such incidents cannot be tolerated if the deaths were due to a lack of manpower and shortage of medicines.
A division bench of Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyay and Justice Arif Doctor made these oral observations after advocate Mohit Khanna urged the court to take it up.
In a letter addressed to the court, Mr. Khanna had expressed concerns over the 31 deaths, including that of infants, since September 30 at Dr. Shankarrao Chavan Government Medical College and Hospitals in Nanded and at least 14 deaths at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Government Hospital on October 2.
The court sought preliminary information on the issue from Advocate General Birendra Saraf on October 5. The bench noted: “If there are deaths due to lack of manpower and shortage of medicines, it cannot be tolerated at all.” Mr Saraf said he will gather all the information about what exactly happened and how it all transpired.
Need to issue effective orders
The court said: “We want to issue effective orders. We are requesting you to file a petition. Gather data regarding the vacancy in the hospital, availability of medicine, the percentage the government is spending and so on.”
The letter also referred to the report related to an incident at the Thane Municipal Corporation-run Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Memorial Hospital in Kalwa where 18 patients had died in 24 hours in August this year. Mr. Khanna mentioned that the hospitals in their statements had cited a shortage of beds, doctors, and essential medicines as the primary reason for the deaths and claimed it was in violation of Article 21 (Right to life) of the Constitution.
Reacting to the deaths in the state-run hospitals, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said: “The guilty will be punished after the findings of the probe committee. We have taken serious cognisance of these incidents and sent a team of a minister, secretary, and officers to visit the hospitals in Nanded and Ghati in Aurangabad and submit a report.”
