MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Friday warned the Maharashtra government that it cannot shrug off its responsibility to provide medical care to patients in government-run hospitals even though the patients are shifted from private hospitals at the last moment.
A division bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor made the critical remarks while hearing a PIL following the recent deaths of patients in government hospitals in Nanded and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar. The court said the state government cannot shift the burden of ensuring public health care onto private hospitals.
According to officials, 31 patients, including many infants, died at the Dr Shankarrao Chavan Government Medical College and Hospital in Nanded in 48 hours since September 30, while the death of 18 patients was recorded at the Government Medical College and Hospital at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, earlier known as Aurangabad, between October 2 and 3.
The bench had earlier this week taken suo motu cognizance of the deaths. The court observed that as per the state government affidavit, everything may be available on paper. “But it was also equally important that everything works on the ground,” it said. “How to strengthen medical care? Everything is in place on paper, but if it is not there on the ground? It is about the general condition of healthcare in the state,” the court said.
The court decided to go through preliminary reports submitted by the state government, which indicated that there were vacancies in the post of medical officers. The court has called for filling these vacancies.
“As against 325 sanctioned posts for junior doctors, 273 were filled. As for senior posts, the report also mentions that as against 97 sanctioned posts, only 49 are filled.
For hospitals associated with colleges, the senior and junior residents have responsibilities, and even one empty post cannot be accepted in any situation,” the court recorded in its order. It also noted a reduction in the budgetary allocations for public health and medical education. “The decline in the percentage of allocation by the state to departments is visible,” it observed.