Suspend KEM Hospital’s dean: Corporators

Corporators from across parties on Friday demanded the suspension of the dean of King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital, Hemant Deshmukh, until an inquiry into to the

Corporators from across parties on Friday demanded the suspension of the dean of King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital, Hemant Deshmukh, until an inquiry into to the fire of November 7 is completed. Two-month-old Prince Rajbhar, who suffered 22% burns and had been in critical condition since November 7, died of cardiac arrest on Friday morning.

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The issue was debated in Friday’s standing committee meeting at which the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) clarified that the Rajbhar family would receive the total ₹10 lakh compensation that had been announced previously. “This was an accident due to the equipment. The compensation of ₹10 lakh will be given to the baby’s family,” said Praveen Darade, additional municipal commissioner, BMC.

Corporators demanded an independent, third-party inquiry into the incident, which was termed an accident by the BMC and the hospital administration.

Leader of the Opposition in the BMC, Ravi Raja said, “BMC should suspend the dean of KEM Hospital, until the inquiry into the incident is complete. The inquiry should be conducted at the hands of an independent third party with a three-member panel. An internal inquiry cannot be considered unbiased as officials will only try to protect BMC employees.”

Shiv Sena corporator Prabhakar Shinde echoed this demand and said, “This incident is a disgrace for the civic body. The parents lost their baby this way, when it was the hospital’s job to save his life. Strict action should be taken.”

Corporators also criticised the civic administration for tagging the incident as an accident. Leader of the Samajwadi Party in the BMC, Rais Shaikh said, “Until the inquiry is complete, and the police investigation is concluded, do not call this an accident.”

Representing the civic administration, Darade said, “The equipment was tested and serviced on September 1 this year. BMC has set up a direct enquiry headed by the dean of Nair hospital. The enquiry will be transparent and unbiased.”

Chairman of the standing committee, Yashwant Jadhav, directed the administration to submit a detailed report on the action taken before the next standing committee meeting.