Amid the outrage over the deaths at government hospitals at Nanded and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in Maharashtra, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday took suo motu cognizance of the matter and sought details from the state government. A division bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor asked Advocate General Birendra Saraf, appearing for the state government, to submit details about the state's budgetary allocation for health on Thursday, October 5.
An Advocate submits letter in HC
Earlier in the day, an advocate, Mohit Khanna, had submitted a letter to the bench urging it to take suo motu cognizance of the deaths in the government hospitals. Khanna was initially asked by the bench to submit a petition so that effective orders could be issued. Additionally, the advocate was tasked to compile data regarding vacancies in the hospitals, availability of medicine, the percentage of funds the government is spending etc.
However, in the afternoon session, the bench said it was taking suo motu cognizance of the issue noting that reasons given by the doctors at the hospitals citing shortage of beds, staff, and essential medicines cannot be accepted. The High Court has scheduled the matter for hearing on Thursday.
Recent deaths in Maharashtra hospitals
In his letter, Khanna stated that 31 deaths, including those of infants, were recorded at the Dr Shankarrao Chavan Government Medical College and Hospital in Nanded in 48 hours since September 30. The letter also mentioned that the deaths of 18 patients, including infants, were recorded between October 2 and 3 at the Government Medical College and Hospital at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. However, deaths at the Nanded Hospital have risen to 47 as of now.
In addition, two government hospitals in Nagpur also reported deaths of patients. According to reports, two government hospitals witnessed the deaths of 14 and 9 patients respectively in the past 24 hours. The tragic death reports came amid criticism of the state government over alleged shortage of medicine and doctors in the hospitals across the state.
(With inputs from PTI)
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