THANE: In a 24-hour period, 18 patients who were hospitalised at the civic-run Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital (CSMH) in Kalwa, Maharashtra, passed away for a variety of reasons, accounting for nearly four times the daily average of deaths reported here.
The opposition parties’ political drama on Sunday was sparked by the high mortality rate in CM Eknath Shinde’s Thane district, which prompted the city government to initiate a high-level investigation by the Directorate of Health Services, about the fatalities. Eight of the patients were admitted after being in a critical state.
The victims’ average age was above 50, or around 70%. Thirteen of the fatalities happened in the ICU, leading to speculation that there was a problem with the oxygen lines, which the hospital refuted.
Last Friday, some political activists attempted to organise a demonstration outside the hospital, claiming that six deaths had happened there the previous day as a result of medical malpractice.
After the inquiry committee’s findings are turned in, according to Shinde, action will be taken against individuals responsible for the catastrophe. “We have treated this unfortunate incident carefully. Patients were admitted on various days, as is known. After their situation deteriorated, private hospitals began to refer many patients.
We now have the information and are awaiting a thorough analysis, the CM added.
The report will be submitted in two days, according to public health minister Tanaji Sawant, but local officials stated it would take 15 days. The dean may have been at fault in some way, thus a report has been sought to find out. This won’t become apparent until the report is sent in. With the CM’s assent, action will be taken,” Sawant declared.
Abhijit Bangar, the municipal commissioner for Thane, told reporters that none of the patients shared a disease or issue.
These individuals suffered from kidney stone problems, ulcers, prolonged paralysis, pneumonia, kerosene poisoning, septicemia, etc.
There were 10 women and 8 males among the fatalities, of whom 6 were from Thane city, 4 from Kalyan, 3 from Shahapur, 2 from Mumbai, 1 from each of Bhiwandi and Ulhasnagar, and 1 from an unnamed patient. Due to the temporary relocation of the other public hospital, the Thane Civil Hospital, to a different address, doctors claimed the facility was overcrowded.
The civil hospital has merely been temporarily relocated; it has not been shut down. There are 336 beds total, with around half of them being unoccupied. Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar, who was dispatched on a firefighting mission to the Kalwa hospital, said, “I have instructed officials to publicise the same so that patients don’t gather here.
Dr. Aniruddha Malgaonkar, the medical director of Kalwa Hospital, claimed that several patients entered the facility at a critical stage and passed away while receiving treatment.
He ruled out the chance of an infection in the ICU. However, relatives asserted that a staffing shortfall was to blame for the inadequate care given to their patients. These allegations were refuted by Bangar, who said that 500 employees from Covid teams had been transferred here and that extra nurses had also been hired.