Family to file case claiming snake bite deaths were due to hospital’s negligence

The family claimed that the hospital staff had delayed treating the victims and demanded that a case of culpable homicide be registered against the hospital staff

THANE: Two days after a 4-year-old girl from Dombivli died due to a snake bite on Sunday, her 24-year-old aunt too succumbed to the venomous bite on Tuesday. The duo were bitten by a snake on Sunday and were rushed to the Shastri Nagar Hospital, operated by the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC).

A day after a 4-year-old girl from Dombivli died due to snake bite on Monday, her 24-year-old aunt also succumbed to the venom bite. Both the victims were rushed to a civic hospital in Dombivli on Monday after they were bitten by a snake. While the child died within hours, her 24-year-old aunt had slipped into a coma and breathed her last on Tuesday. The family of the victims have alleged that they lost their lives as the civic hospital in Dombivli did not have anti-venom injections, but wasted considerable time and asked the family members to shift them to Kalwa Hospital only after their condition deteriorated.September 30.Pic on Tuesday in India on 30 2025 - ( Photo By Pramod Tambe).

According to the police, the child, Pranavi Bhoir, died hours after reaching the hospital, while her aunt, Shruti Thakur, slipped into a coma and passed away on Tuesday. Following Thakur’s death, the victims’ family protested outside the cabin of the health officer Dr Deepa Shukla, at the KDMC headquarters, blaming the hospital’s negligence for the two deaths.

The family claimed that the hospital staff had delayed treating the victims and demanded that a case of culpable homicide be registered against the hospital staff. They ended their protest later on Tuesday only after Shukla gave them a written assurance that strict action would be taken against those found guilty.

Satyawan Mhatre, the girl’s uncle, said, “Despite spending a valuable hour at Shastri Nagar Hospital, the doctors did not administer anti-venom to the victims. When the girl started having difficulty breathing, they instructed us to take her to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital in Kalwa.” Untreated, the girl died at the gates of the civic hospital, he said, adding that they planned to lodge a case against the doctors at Shastri Nagar Hospital, including the health officer, for causing death due to negligence.

According to Mhatre the Shastri Nagar Hospital also delayed providing an ambulance and failed to send a doctor along with the patient while transferring her to the Kalwa hospital. “We demand the strictest action against them,” he said.

Shukla disputed the family’s claim and said that the victims were given anti-venom at Shastri Nagar Hospital, but as their condition was critical, they were referred to Kalwa Hospital for advanced critical care. “Based on the complaint, we will conduct a detailed investigation and take appropriate action,” she added.