Seven people, including three women, were booked on Wednesday for allegedly vandalising the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) hospital in Vashi following the death of a 50-year-old man. Of the seven, the four men were arrested.
The patient, Venkatesh Suryavanshi, a resident of Juhu gaon, was shifted from a private hospital in Koparkhairane to the NMMC hospital on Tuesday afternoon. At the time of admission, Suryavanshi, who had tuberculosis, was in a critical condition and had very low oxygen levels. An antigen test had declared him negative for COVID-19.
“At the time of admission, after checking his condition, vitals and the history papers, we had said that his chances of survival are very less. He was admitted to the ICU ward,” Prashant Jawade, medical superintendent, NMMC hospital, said.
Suryavanshi died during treatment around 3.45 a.m. on Wednesday. After getting to know about the death, his sons Rupesh (22) and Sandesh (20), along with their friends Pankaj Jadhav (22) and Rohit Namwad (32) entered the ICU ward and started vandalising the department. Three women who followed them assaulted security guard Satish Dere.
“I was told that they also carried a few sharp weapons with them. The security guard has received injuries. Our engineers are analysing the damage and finding the losses that we incurred,” Mr. Jawade said. Chief Medical Officer Majur Shaikh and a few other hospital staff were also allegedly attacked.
According to the police, the seven had vandalised three ventilators, one dialysis machine, two fans, one table fan, and two nurse stations. “The sons of the deceased ran a rental service of vehicles. We arrested the four men and would be producing them before court on Thursday,” senior police inspector Sanjeev Dhumal from Vashi police station said.
The accused have been arrested under Sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984, criminal law, and the Maharashtra Medicare Service Persons and Medicare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage of Property) Act, 2010.
