Mumbai: Ramdas Athawale demands judicial probe into Virar hospital tragedy

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A day after a fire in a hospital in Virar in neighbouring Palghar district killed 15 patients, Union minister Ramdas Athawale visited the facility on Saturday and demanded a judicial inquiry into the horrific incident.

A blaze in the second-floor ICU of the four-storeyed Vijay Vallabh Hospital in Virar shortly after 3 am on Friday led to the death of 15 COVID-19 patients.

Athawale said fire and safety audits must be conducted of all hospitals in the state, since such incidents were on the rise, a reference to the Nashik hospital gas leak on April 21, which killed 22.

Virar police has registered a case under sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 337 and 338 (both dealing with rash or negligent act endangering human life) and 38 (acts done by several in furtherance of common intention) of IPC against the Virar hospital's directors.

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