Maharashtra: 31 Patients Die In 48 Hours In Nanded Hospital Due To Lack Of Medicines

The death toll in Shankarrao Chavan Government Hospital in Maharashtra's Nanded rises to 31 in the past 48 hours. Among these 31 patients, 16 were infants or children.

Earlier it was reported that 12 newborns died in a government-run hospital in Nanded in the last 24 hours. According to the dean, the deaths are caused by a shortage of medicines and a lack of hospital staff.

Apart from the newborns, 12 adults also lost their lives as reported by the dean of the hospital. Reportedly, adults were suffering from various ailments, mostly snake bites.

"Six males and six female babies died in the last 24 hours. Twelve adults also died due to various ailments, mostly snake bites. We faced some difficulty since various staff were being transferred," the dean of Nanded's Government Hospital Shankarrao Chavan was quoted as saying.

The dean further said that the government hospital is a tertiary-level care centre and patients from far-off places come to the hospital as this is the only place in the 70 to 80-km radius.

Talking about the lack of facilities and medicine supply in the hospital, the dean said, "There is an institute Haffkine. We are supposed to buy medicines from them but that also didn't happen. But we did buy medicines locally and provided them to the patients."

However, the hospital authorities declined the claims by the dean and were quoted saying as, "Essential medicines are available in the hospital. The hospital has ₹ 12 crore in funds. For this financial year, ₹ 4 crore has been approved. Other patients are being treated as necessary."

The statement released by the hospital authorities said that there were 12 adult patients (five male and seven female) and 12 children. Among adults, four were suffering from heart disease, one from poisoning, one from gastric disease, two from kidney ailments, one from obstetric complications, and three were accident victims. Among the children, four in the terminal stage were referred from private hospitals.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde expressed condolences for the deceased and called the incident unfortunate. He further ensured that strict action would be taken after a thorough investigation would be done to find out the real cause of the deaths.

A committee has been formed to probe the deaths, Dr Dilip Mhaisekar, Director, Medical Education and Research, Maharashtra, told PTI.

"A three-member expert committee from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (formerly Aurangabad) district has been formed with a mandate to submit a report by 1 p.m. tomorrow. I am personally visiting the hospital to review the situation," he informed.

A similar incident took place in a Thane-based government hospital in August this year. Reportedly, 18 patients died in Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Memorial in Thane's Kalwa within a span of 24 hours.

According to Thane civic commissioner Abhijit Bangar, the patients were suffering from complications due to kidney stones, chronic paralysis, ulcers, pneumonia, kerosene poisoning, and septicemia among other ailments.

Reacting to the deaths of the patients in government-run hospitals, the Opposition in Maharashtra slammed the Eknath Shinde government and said the triple-engine sarkar (of the BJP, Eknath Shinde Sena and the Ajit Pawar faction of NCP) should take responsibility.

"The triple-engine sarkar is responsible for the deaths of all the 24 innocent people. They should be made accountable," Congress leader Supriya Sule said.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took to his X handle to express condolences to all the bereaved families and accused the Centre.

"The BJP government spends thousands of crores of rupees on its publicity, but there is no money for medicines for children? In the eyes of the BJP, the lives of the poor have no value," he alleged.

On the other hand, former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Congress veteran Ashok Chavan who visited the hospital sad, "A total of 24 lives were lost. Seventy are still critical. There is a lack of medical facilities and staff. Many nurses were transferred and their replacements were not given. Many machines are not working. The hospital's capacity is 500, but 1,200 patients are admitted. I will speak to Ajit Pawar (about this). The government should look into the matter keenly and take control of the situation."

"24 deaths, which include 12 newborn babies, in 24 hours in the government hospital in Nanded happened due to lack of supply of medicine by the state government. Shame on a government that only advertises festivals and events," a spokesperson of Sharad Pawar's NCP, Vikas Lawande, wrote on X.

Priyanka Chaturvedi of Shiv Sena (UBT) lashed out at the state government and said, "This is shameful, please don't call them deaths, this is murder due to absolute negligence on the part of the unconstitutional state government. They are so busy planning influencer events or foreign trips that they have forgotten their basic job is to serve the state."