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Mangeshkar Hospital admits ₹10 lakh deposit was sought from deceased patient; Dr Ghaisas resigns
The patient, Tanisha Bhise, was allegedly denied admission by DMH over non-payment of the deposit. She later died after delivering her babies at another facility
Dr Dhananjay Kelkar, director of Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital (DMH), admitted on Monday that a ₹10 lakh deposit was mentioned on a hospital form in the case involving the death of a pregnant woman—despite the hospital having no official policy to demand such deposits.
“There is no system in our hospital where doctors are supposed to ask for deposits. I don’t know what came into the doctor’s mind that day, but he wrote ₹10 lakh in a box on the admission form. This is not our practice,” said Dr Kelkar during a press conference held at the hospital.
The patient, Tanisha Bhise, was allegedly denied admission by DMH over non-payment of the deposit. She later died after delivering her babies at another facility.
Dr Kelkar explained that although DMH historically did not ask for advance payments, the practice had changed in recent years for select, high-cost cases.
“Earlier, we never took deposits. But as we began handling more critical cases, often involving patients from outside Pune, we started asking for deposits in some situations,” he said.
He added that on the day of the incident, he personally received a call from the patient’s husband around 2 PM.
“I told Bhise to pay ₹2 to ₹2.5 lakh and assured him that the administration would honour my word. I was in the operation theatre at the time and don’t know what transpired afterwards,” he said.
Dr Kelkar reiterated that the hospital’s admission forms typically contain a treatment cost estimate but have no section for deposit amounts.
“We never write deposit figures on forms. I perform around 10 surgeries a day, and I’ve never seen or written such a figure,” he said.
He added that if the patient or her family had directly approached the hospital administration, the situation might have been handled differently. Dr Kelkar also stated that if a patient leaves the hospital premises without informing the staff, it is standard procedure to report the matter to the police. In light of the incident, DMH has now stopped taking deposits altogether, including in high-cost cases. When asked if the hospital accepted responsibility for the patient’s death, Dr Kelkar said they were awaiting the final report.
Doctor resigns amid controversy
The controversy has led to the resignation of Dr Sushrut Ghaisas, consulting gynaecologist at Pune’s Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital. In his resignation letter, Dr Ghaisas cited intense public anger, social media backlash, and threat calls as reasons for stepping down.
Dr Kelkar said, “In his resignation letter, Dr Ghaisas stated that he is under tremendous mental pressure due to public outrage, criticism, and threats. He fears this will impact his ability to treat other patients and may also compromise the safety of his family. To avoid injustice to his work, he has decided to resign.”
According to Dr Kelkar, Dr Ghaisas will continue treating his existing patients for the next two to three days to ensure continuity of care, and then step down.
