IMA moves Bombay HC seeking quashing of case against doctor held over Ahmednagar hospital fire

The IMA filed an interim PIL application alleging improper Covid-19 management in Maharashtra, stating that Shinde was being made a scapegoat for the alleged dereliction of duty by hospital authorities and should be protected.

“She (Dr Shinde) had nothing to do with the cause of the fire that was due to electrical short circuit as well as a cocktail of increased oxygen concentration in the air due to leakage from masks and vapor of alcohol from sanitiser,” stated the application filed through Dr Ashutosh Jape of IMA, Pune.
The plea said several fire incidents have been reported in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) in Covid-19 wards of various hospitals in recent months “due to a cocktail of oxygen and alcohol vapor, curtains and electrical short circuits”.

The plea said that despite the High Court’s August 2 order, the state government failed to file any affidavit on compliance to Supreme Court’s directions pertaining to preventing fire at hospitals. The government has not taken any action to improve the situation, the IMA said.

It said that after the fire, instead of taking action against concerned officials, Dr Shinde, a resident doctor of the hospital, was arrested and arbitrarily and unnecessarily put behind bars. The IMA said that in light of the case against Dr Shinde, who had personally evacuated four patients from the ward, there was a need to protect doctors from criminal proceedings in such cases.

“The applicant feels that gross injustice has been caused to her and the medical fraternity is insulted by the administration. It would not be out of place to mention here that during the Covid crisis, the same medical fraternity and support staff had endangered their life and were working day and night at the cost of their family life. Under the circumstances, it is highly improper to treat medical professionals like criminals and arrest them,” the application filed through advocate Nitin Deshpande reads.

The application seeks to quash and set aside the case registered against Dr Shinde and also a direction to authorities to produce all files pertaining to the fire safety audit of Ahmednagar civil hospital.

The IMA also sought directions to the appropriate authority for disciplinary action and criminal proceedings against errant persons responsible for not fitting the necessary gadgets in advance to prevent the fire.

A division bench led by Chief Justice Dipankar Datta is likely to hear IMA’s plea next week.