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Journalism of Courage
Demands for action against Deenanath Mangeshkar hospital intensified on Monday as NCP (SP) working president Supriya Sule and chairperson of the state women’s commission Rupali Chakankar met family members of the deceased woman after she was allegedly denied timely medical treatment and died after giving birth to twins. Sule and Chakankar also sought action over the woman’s death.
“Deenanath Mangeshkar hospital has not paid property tax of Rs 27 crore to Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), however no action has been taken against them. If the dues had been that of common citizens, then the civic administration would have beaten drums outside their property to recover the amount, but nothing is done to recover it from the hospital,” said Sule after she raised the issue with the civic administration.
She said action should be taken against the hospital over the recent incident. “It is not a political issue but a sensitive one. The onus is on the police over delayed action,” she said, adding the hospital administration was insensitive as it had disclosed private information of patients.
“The incident speaks of the system and its failure, despite a phone call from the Chief Minister’s office. Action must be taken against those responsible for it,” said NCP (SP) leader.
She said the land for the hospital was allocated when NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar was chief minister and Shriniwas Patil was Pune collector.
“The Mangeshkar family is not responsible for the incident as the hospital is managed by others in the trust. Everyone knows about the Mangeshkar family’s contribution to society,” she said.
Chakankar said the initial report clearly showed the hospital was at fault and did not follow norms. “Two more reports are awaited, one is the maternal death investigation report, and the other is a report by the charity commissioner’s office. Once these reports are submitted, a decision on action against the hospital will be taken.”
Chakankar said she met the deceased woman’s family, and they handed over a letter to her, seeking action against the hospital for making confidential information about the patient public.
“The family has alleged that the hospital, in its internal report, divulged information about the patient and made it public, and action should be taken,” she said.
Chakankar said that there are 27 hospitals run by trusts in the city and according to rules, they should reserve 10 per cent beds for those with an annual income of less than Rs 1.8 lakh and 10 per cent beds for those earning less than Rs 85,000 as annual income.
