COVID-19 hospital mismanagement: BJP attacks Maha government

Thane, Jul 8 () The incident of gross mismanagement at a civic-run COVID-19 facility here in Maharashtra has taken a political turn with the opposition BJP on Wednesday accusing the Maha Vikas Aghadi government of being insensitive towards plight of the common people amid the COVID-19 crisis.

BJP leaders Kirit Somaiya and Thane city unit chief Niranjan Davkhare have slammed district guardian minister Eknath Shinde (Shiv Sena) and his cabinet colleague Jitendra Awhad (NCP) for not visiting the kin of the deceased COVID-19 patients who suffered an emotional trauma due to the goof-up on part of the hospital.

Somaiya demanded registration of a criminal case for negligence against the hospital management in view of the incident.

The matter came to light when the family of a 72- year-old patient filed a complaint with the police stating that the man had gone missing from Global Hub Covid Hospital, where he was shifted for treatment on June 29.

Investigations revealed that the body of the septuagenarian, who had 'disappeared' from the hospital on July 5, was handed over to the family of another COVID-19 patient who was very much alive at the time, an official had said.

"A probe by a civic team set up on Tuesday found that the kin of this family in Kopri is alive and under treatment at a COVID facility. The hospital has said the goof-up was a result of case papers of the two patients getting mixed up," the official said.

The family which received the body in a sealed bag cremated it.

Another family which was informed that their kin, a 67-year-old, was alive in the hospital. However, the patient died of the infection late on Tuesday night, a senior civic official had said. CORR NSK NSK