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Layer upon layer of lacunae clouds probe into Apexcare’s status as dedicated Covid hospital
PUNE The Apexcare hospital for Covid-19 treatment came into existence during the first wave in 2020
PUNE The Apexcare hospital for Covid-19 treatment came into existence during the first wave in 2020. It was first active on the premises of the Aditya Multispecialty Hospital in Miraj, after which it was granted a permit to operate as a dedicated Covid hospital.
Dr Mahesh Jadhav, currently in police custody, started operating the Covid centre under aegis of Apexcare, in agreement with the owners of Aditya hospital.
Documents related to the facility after it shifted to an independent building on the Sangli-Miraj road, reveal a series of glaring lacunae.
While the local health department official says that the permit application for a trauma centre is pending, advertising hoardings claiming that the Apexcare hospital is a 24-hour accident, trauma, and ICU hospital are on display. The facility has now been sealed.
“After an oxygen leak happened at Aditya Hospital, the facility was shifted to its present location. At Aditya Hospital, it operated on the Bombay Nursing Act permit for that hospital, but later on, a separate permit was granted. During that procedure they had submitted a list of three intensivists, a resident medical officer, 21 medical officers, and 30 paramedical staff as employed at the hospital. If, over the period of time, the staff quit, positions needed to be refilled immediately. Moreover, if a staff shortage is reported, we issue orders for filling positions with private hospital doctors. A shortage was never reported by the hospital. The shortage was reported by victims and their families,” said Nitin Kapadnis, commissioner, Sangli, Miraj, Kupwad municipal corporation (SMKC).
The police found 18 fina-year students working in the hospital and have recorded their statements along with nursing staff. There are 50 statements on record.
The first serious complaint against the hospital came immediately after its inception in 2020 - relatives were neither allowed any contact with the patients nor were they given updates. In response, commissioner Kapadnis claims to have visited the facility on April 22, 2021. However, by the end of April, complaints of no doctors and absence of equipment started pouring in, according to Kapadnis.
Commissioner Kapadnis made a second visit on May 2 and served a notice to the hospital for fulfilling requirements, but since the hospital refused to respond, the dedicated Covid hospital licence was cancelled on May 7.
“When a district-level monitoring committee made visits to the hospital, four ventilators and 10 bipap machines were in place. On the third visit, the number of ventilators had reduced,” he said.
A family from Pandharpur was among multiple families promised a ventilator bed for their relatives at Apexcare on April 27, 2021. The Maharashtra government’s health department spreadsheet for bed availability on April 27, and every day since, shows no ventilator beds available at the hospital. The same family from Pandharpur had four patients in the hospital - one allegedly on the ventilator. However, they were all charged the same amount as that of the ventilator patient.
Meanwhile, complaints by the district-level bill audit teams against the hospital kept piling up. District collect Abhijeet Chaudhury then issued orders for a case to be registered against Dr Mahesh Jadhav.
“If the doctor had treated and given wrong treatment, then it could at least be a case of medical negligence. Here, the case is of not providing treatment after charging money for the treatment. The ones present in the hospital were a Munna Bhai-kind of BHMS final year students who were drawing a salary from the hospital,” said senior police inspector Shashikant Chavan of Gandhi chowk police station, who is investigating the case.
The SMKC officials have launched a parallel enquiry for verification of the names which were provided by the hospital as trained medical staff while applying for a permit under Bombay Nursing Act.
Dr Sunil Amboli, head of health department of SMKC which granted the Nursing Act permit, is woefully unaware of the details of the hospital.
The case continues to get murkier as one starts wondering what happened to the four ventilators which were allegedly seen by the district monitoring team, but were not found by the police when the hospital was sealed. The local government is also checking if there are records for structural, fire, and electric audit of the hospital which are mandatory for inception of a dedicated Covid hospital, according to Kapadnis.
