Maharashtra government on Friday told the Bombay High Court that the state-run hospitals in Nanded and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar which recently saw a spurt in patient deaths faced a heavy inflow of extremely critical patients from private hospitals. However, the court said the state can’t escape its responsibility.
In the tragic incidents, a total of 31 patients, including 12 infants, passed away within a span of 48 hours at Dr. Shankarrao Chavan Government Medical College and Hospital in Nanded between September 30 and October 2. Additionally, at least 18 deaths, including two pre-term infants, were recorded at the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar within a 24-hour period ending at 8 am on Tuesday.
The state government also told a division bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor that there does not seem to be any gross negligence on the part of the state-run hospitals. The bench had earlier this week taken suo motu cognisance of the deaths. Advocate General Birendra Saraf, appearing for the government, told the court on Friday that all medicines and other equipment required at the hospitals for the management of patients were available and administered as per protocol.
The patients who died had been brought in critical condition from other hospitals. There are issues. There is no denying that. But it does not seem like there was any gross negligence by the hospitals. Of course, it is sad what has happened. People have died. Every death is unfortunate, Saraf said.
The bench sought to know how the government plans to strengthen public healthcare. How to strengthen it? Everything is there on paper but if it is not trickling down then there is no point. This is not just about procurement (of medicines and equipment) but the general state of healthcare in Maharashtra, CJ Upadhyaya said.
You (Maharashtra government) cannot escape by saying there is a burden. You are the State. You cannot shift the responsibility to the private player, he added. The court also noted that the state government has issued good policies but not implemented them.The bench sought to know the cause of deaths in the hospitals in Nanded and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. How did the situation come to this? What happened? Justice Doctor asked.
Most of the patients (who died in Nanded and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar state hospitals) were referred to these hospitals when their condition was severely critical. Most of them died within a day this includes infants, Saraf said. He claimed that earlier too there had been 11 to 20 deaths in a day in these hospitals.
Public hospitals cannot ask people to go away. They try to accommodate everyone. At Nanded, there were 12 cases of infant deaths. Of this, only three were born at the government hospital. The remaining were brought in extremely critical condition from other hospitals, Saraf said. He added the government has formed a three-member committee, which will visit all government hospitals and submit reports.