Sangli scam: How did Covid-19 hospital with no trained staffers get municipal nod?

Apexcare Hospital in Sangli. Pics/Hanif Patel

After busting a fake Covid-19 hospital last week, the Sangli police are now probing if local municipal authorities were complicit in the case that involves the deaths of 87 Covid-19 patients. The police arrested cosmetic surgeon Dr Mahesh Jadhav, owner of Apexcare hospital, who hired homoeopathy and ayurveda students to treat Covid-19 patients and charged exorbitant amounts for no treatment.

Dikshit Gedam, SP Sangli

Apart from inflating bills, the hospital never allowed patients admitted to the general ward to bring their mobile phones and deprived them of provisions brought by their family.

Dr Jadhav is in police custody till July 25. Mahatma Gandhi police station in-charge, Sashikant Chavan, said, "Dr Jadhav offered a 30 per cent cut to ambulance services to bring patients to the hospital. Most of the patients were residents of the nearby Solapur."

Sources said that the hospital secured municipal permissions to operate as a Covid-19 hospital on April 15 this year. It operated as one for three months during the first wave, too.

Superintendent of Police Dikshit Gedam said that of the 207 patients admitted to the hospital in the second wave, 87 died. "The death rate of this hospital is 43 per cent. We had been getting complaints of inflated bills. The hospital was flouting all Covid-19 norms. So we registered a case for disobeying a government servant's order and cheating, but during investigation, we learnt that the hospital followed no rules. There was no MD-level medical practitioner, only BHMS (Bachelor of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery) students assisted him. They are not competent to treat Covid-19," Gedam said, adding that later Section 304 (2) (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC was invoked.

Dr Mahesh Jadhav, owner of the hospital

"We had laid traps for Dr Jadhav as we knew he would try to flee from Sangli. His Mercedes was stopped at one such checkpoint. He was found to be using a fake number plate," Gedam said.

A source at the hospital said, "Most of the patients died within two days of their admission. Since bodies were not handed over to the relatives, we suspect that the hospital may have removed body parts."

The police are probing how Dr Jadhav got permission to run the hospital despite serious lapses. Gedam said, "We have kept our investigation wide and are probing through all the angles including organ smuggling but so far, we have no received such complaints or leads."

Second case against doc

Before Dr Jadhav, six people from the hospital's management, identified as managers Prasanna Karanjkar, 36, and Narendra Jadhav, 29, assistants Bharat Velhal, 24, Gokul Rathod, helper Balu alias Janki Ram Maruti Sawant, 29 and Rajendra Dhage, 34, were arrested.

Sub-inspector Somnath Kachare said, "This is the second case against Dr Jadhav. In 2019, he and Rathod were booked for medical negligence."

Kachare added that Rathod tried to destroy all evidence. He spilt the beans during questioning.

"Dhage ran a fake diagnostic centre where urine and blood samples were sent. He would tamper with a doctor's digital signature and make fake reports," Kachare added.

"Dr Jadhav ran a 50-bed hospital with one ventilator. None of the patients was given proper treatment, they were charged for the ventilator to inflate bills," Kachare said.

Kachare added that multiple patients came with an oxygen saturation level of 50 or 60 and despite knowing that they would need immediate critical care which it cannot provide, the hospital admitted them. "The hospital demanded Rs 20,000 before admission and charged at least Rs 10,000 per day. We have recorded the statements of 25 people so far," Kachare said.

The complainant in the case is medical officer of Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad Municipal Corporation, Dr Sunil Ambole. Dr Ambole said that the technical committee of the district had conducted a survey before letting Apexcare treat Covid patients.

The Mercedes car in which Dr Mahesh Jadhav was fleeing

"When the technical committee gives its okay in a report, the file comes to the civic commissioner who gives his permission," said Dr Ambole, adding that Apexcare did not cooperate in pre-auditing amid complaints of inflated bills. "An officer was deputed for pre-audit of bills but the administration did not cooperate despite several notices and reminders. So the Collector and municipal were apprised of the situation," said Dr Ambole.

Rs 1 lakh in 10 days

Mahendra Nirulkar had got his mother, Vaishali, admitted to the hospital on August 11 last year. "In 10 days, the hospital generated a bill of Rs 1 lakh. Civic officials summoned the hospital after my complaint, but they never turned up. I kept following up and later they agreed to waive Rs 42,000," Nirulkar said.

Kajal Jadhav's father, Madhav, died at the hospital. "We had been sending coconut water, milk, eggs, etc. but it never reached him. This is so cheap. The bill was inflated. Everything failed as my father did not survive," said Kajal, whose statement has been recorded by the police.

Dashrath Dongre admitted his father, Madhav, with high fever and cough. "All hospitals were full. Someone suggested I take my father to Apexcare. We felt lucky that we got a bed but he did not survive. Now we have learnt that the doctors were fake," Dongre said.

207
Total number of patients admitted to the hospital during the second wave

87
No. of patients who died at the hospital

43%
Death rate of the hospital