Taking suo motu cognisance of the news reports about the deaths of a large number of patients in two State-run hospitals in Nanded and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar districts in Maharashtra in a span of 24 hours, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Thursday issued a notice to the State chief secretary, seeking a detailed report within four weeks on the incident and the status of infrastructure and man power in the two hospitals.
In a development that came a day after the Bombay High Court took a similar suo motu cognisance and scheduled a hearing in the matter on Friday, the NHRC took note of reports in the media that the patients had allegedly died in these hospitals “due to a lack of medical help and a shortage of essential medicines”.
“The commission has observed that the contents of the media report, if true, amount to a violation of human rights relating to the life and health of the victims due to negligence by public authorities, which is a matter of concern,” a statement put out by the NHRC.
Through its notice to the State Chief Secretary, the NHRC asked the Maharashtra government to inform it about the action taken against the public servants responsible for maintaining the two hospitals and also let it know about the status of the relief and rehabilitation provided to the aggrieved families.
“The commission would also like to know about the steps taken or proposed by the State Government to ensure that such unfortunate deaths do not recur in the future,” a statement released by the NHRC said.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Congress on Thursday demanded that the families of 100-odd patients, including newly born babies —who died in the government hospitals of Nanded, Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, and Nagpur — be paid a compensation of `10 lakh per affected family by the State Government.
A delegation of the State Congress, led by its president Nana Patole, met Maharashtra Governor Ramesh Bais and handed over a memorandum, also demanding that the Eknath Shinde Government be dismissed for “lack of basic medical services” in the Government-run hospitals.