Mumbai, Oct 4: Describing the deaths of patients at the Nanded hospital and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar hospital occurred due to the government’s alleged indifference as “state murders”, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Nana Patole has demanded that a case should be registered against the government under section 302 of Indian Penal Code.
In a press release here on Tuesday, he said that the state government does not seem to have learned any lessons from the deaths in the Kalwa government hospital in Thane a few months ago.
After Thane, 31 patients have died in last 48 hours in Nanded hospital and 10 patients, including two newborns, have died in last 24 hours at the Ghati Hospital in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, he said.
“These unfortunate deaths have caused a major public outrage. It has once again become evident that the (Eknath) Shinde-(Devendra) Fadnavis-(Ajit) Pawar-led state government is utterly indifferent and thick-skinned. It is deeply troubling that these deaths are occurring due to a lack of medicines,” he said.
“The government has money to host self-praising events, for advertisements, and for buying politicians, but not for purchasing medicines for the common people.” he opined.
The MPCC chief observed that there are not enough doctors and staff in government hospitals and there is also a shortage of medicines.
“The equipment in the hospitals is dysfunctional and lying idle. If this is the state of health services in major cities, one can only imagine the condition in rural hospitals,” he expressed and remarked that government hospitals have become death traps.
Claiming that the Public Health Department and the Medical Education Department did not procure medicines on time and sought 40 per cent commission in the deal, he said that consequently, funds worth Rs 600 crore that were allocated in 2022 lapsed.
While criticising the BJP government, Patole alleged that the BJP government has made a big spectacle about launching free health services in the state from 15 August, but instead of providing services, the hospitals are causing deaths.
Under the BJP government’s tenure, it appears that people losing their lives has become a common occurrence, he said.
Referring to 18 deaths at a government hospital in the Chief Minister’s home town Thane in one night in August, he said that an inquiry committee was formed to look into the incident but what happened to that committee, he asked.
Simply suspending a doctor or medical staff won’t solve this issue, he averred and said that action should be taken against the concerned minister and senior officials in the ministry.
“If there is even a shred of empathy left in the Chief Minister, he should immediately sack both the Minister of Medical Education and the Minister of Public Health,” added Patole.
