A case has been registered against the dean at a government-run medical college and hospital in Maharashtra’s Nanded after the facility reported 31 deaths in 72 hours. The dean, Dr SR Wakode, and another doctor have been named as accused in the FIR registered by Nanded rural police. The complaint was filed by a relative of a newborn who died at the hospital. The complainant alleges negligence on part of the dean and the child specialist, claiming that the newborn did not receive any medical attention. The family had brought medicines from outside the hospital and waited for help, but no doctor attended to the newborn. When they sought help from the dean’s office, they were ignored. In response to this incident, the dean filed a police complaint against an MP of the ruling Shiv Sena, Hemant Patil, who had made him clean a dirty toilet at the hospital. Patil visited the hospital after 31 deaths were reported in 72 hours. During his visit, he expressed his disappointment at the poor condition of the hospital toilets, stating that they had not been cleaned for months and lacked water. In retaliation, the dean accused Patil of criminal force, defamation, and criminal intimidation. The incident of the dean cleaning the toilets on Patil’s instructions was captured on video and went viral. The video elicited mixed reactions on social media, with some users supporting Patil’s actions while others criticising the hospital’s administration for using diversion tactics to avoid responsibility for the poor state of the hospital. The hospital’s hygiene standards were also brought into question through visuals of pigs roaming freely on the premises. The government has denied any shortage of medicine and doctors at the hospital, but patients’ relatives have alleged that senior doctors were unavailable and junior doctors were attending to patients. They also claimed that medicines were not available at the hospital and patients’ families were asked to procure them from outside.
Sun. Nov 9th, 2025
