Maharashtra hospital deaths: Bombay HC demands Eknath Shinde govt's healthcare spending data

The Bombay high court on Wednesday took suo motu cognizance of the deaths at the hospital in Nanded, where 35 people including 16 children died.

The Bombay high court on Wednesday took suo motu cognizance of the deaths at Dr Shankarrao Chavan Government Medical College Hospital in Nanded, where 35 patients including 16 children died. The matter has been listed for tomorrow.

A division bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor has asked Advocate General Birendra Saraf, appearing for the state government, to submit to the bench details about the state's budgetary allocation for health on Friday.

The Eknath Shinde government has come under fire from the opposition over the latest hospital deaths. "The deaths are unfortunate. We have taken the incident very seriously. An inquiry has been ordered and action will be taken appropriately", the chief minister said.

Nanded govt hospital saw 24 deaths in 24 hours, before the toll went up to 35.

In another incident, 14 deaths were reported in the Government Medical College and Hospital at Sambhaji Nagar, which includes two infants. The hospital superintendent, Dr Vijay Kalyankar said the fatalities were not the result of a shortage of manpower or medicines.

Maharashtra's medical education minister Hasan Mushrif said,"Every death case at Nanded's Government Medical College and Hospital will be investigated individually by a committee. There are shortcomings and we will overcome them. Change will be visible (at the facility) in the next 15 days".

However, the opposition has lashed out at the Shinde government. Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar wrote on social media platform X, “The unfortunate incident of death of 24 people including 12 newborns in 24 hours in a government hospital in Nanded is literally shocking.

“Just two months ago, there was an unfortunate incident where 18 people died in a single night in Kalwa Hospital of Thane Municipal Corporation. However, due to not taking this incident seriously, such a very serious incident was repeated in the government hospital in Nanded. This shows the failure of government systems”, Pawar added.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi had also posted on X,"The BJP government spends thousands of crores of rupees on its publicity, but there is no money for medicines for children? In the eyes of the BJP, the lives of the poor have no value".