HC takes note of patients being treated on streets, seeks state’s reply

Bombay HC seeks Maharashtra govt's response on patients treated on streets outside hospital in Buldhana district, following overcrowding due to temple event.

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Friday took cognisance of news reports about patients being treated on the streets outside a hospital in Maharashtra’s Buldhana district and sought the state government’s response within ten days.

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The bench of chief justice DK Upadhyay and justice Arif S Doctor directed the government to file a detailed affidavit after amicus curiae advocate Mohit Khanna presented numerous news reports about the distressing situation of patients in Buldhana district. The reports were presented in pursuance with a suo motu public interest litigation on the deaths of patients at government hospitals in the Nanded and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar districts of Maharashtra last year.

While the reports showed that patients in Buldhana were seeking treatment outside the hospital premises due to over-crowding, government pleader PP Kakade explained that the hospital with a limited capacity of 30 beds was overwhelmed as around 150 persons who fell ill after consuming sweets at a local temple sought treatment. He said the patients were immediately treated and discharged the next day.

Despite assurances that the patients’ condition was not severe, and they were discharged the following day, the bench raised concerns about the adequacy of emergency care and the distance to the nearest district hospital, which Kakade revealed to be 100 kilometres.

During the hearing, Khanna requested the court to consider a recent direction of the Delhi high court to establish a six-member committee of experts to address infrastructure issues in government hospitals in the city. In response, the bench said that comparing Delhi with Maharashtra was not valid. “Consider Delhi’s population. Present the Delhi HC judgement at the next hearing,” the court said, scheduling the next hearing in ten days.

The incident occurred during a week-long religious event at the Khaparkheda temple in Lonar taluka of Buldhana district, where approximately 200 villagers reported nausea and vomiting after consuming prasad. District collector Kiran Patil said that while 142 individuals were admitted to the rural hospital at Bibi, 20 were taken to Lonar, and 35 patients received treatment at a facility in Mehkar.