Over a dozen staffers face departmental inquiry for ‘lack of supervision’, ‘not providing ambulance’, and other charges
Ambulances outside Cottage hospital in Jawhar
The medical superintendent of Cottage hospital, where a tribal child from Palghar died of pneumonia after travelling 100 km, faces a departmental inquiry for ‘lack of supervision’. The district’s civic surgeon took action after mid-day reported about the family’s sufferings. He has issued a show cause notice to the superintendent. He also learnt that the hospital has six ambulances, but not a single driver was on duty on January 25. Along with the superintendent, nearly a dozen other staffers could be suspended.
The deceased child, Ajay Pardhi, 6, was referred to Cottage hospital by a rural hospital. Within hours of reaching there, Ajay died and the family took his body home to Payarwadi village in Mokhada taluka, 40 km away, on a motorcycle, as the hospital failed to provide an ambulance. After mid-day’s cover-page story, a team from the civil surgeon’s office reached Cottage hospital to understand what went wrong and why the Pardhi family was deprived of the ambulance service.
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Ajay Pardhi, the child. Pics/Hanif Patel
Talking to mid-day, Dr Sanjay Bodade, the civil surgeon of the Palghar district, said, “There are six ambulances in the hospital, yet Ajay’s family was not given an ambulance to take his body home. We have initiated an enquiry and have sent a show -cause notice to the medical superintendent of Cottage hospital, Dr Ramdas Marad, for his lack of supervision.” “After the death of the child, Dr Marad was notified and he informed the security guard. But the security guard did not properly handle the matter of arranging an ambulance.”
‘Lack of supervision everywhere’
Dr Bodade explained, “When a death happens in the hospital, the on-duty medical officer or the nurse, who is handling the case of the patient, should arrange an ambulance before handing over the body to the family. But nothing as such happened. Dr Marad should have given a clear instruction about it to the on-duty medical officer or the staff nurse... The staff was careless.” “Why did Dr Marad call the security guard to arrange an ambulance? We have found lack of supervision on his part everywhere. Hence we issued a show-cause notice to him,” Dr Bodade added.
Ajay Pardhi’s father and mother with his photograph
During the departmental enquiry, the civil surgeon also learnt that the hospital has six ambulance drivers. “However, none of the drivers were present in the hospital [on January 25], as hospital matron Vanmala Rathod hadn’t made a roster for them. It is the prime responsibility of the matron to make a roster of ambulance drivers. Instead of doing her work properly, she is freely taking medical leaves. The medical superintendent should keep a check on why she is taking leaves so frequently,” Dr Bodade said. Sources told mid-day that when the security guard called three drivers to take the body to Pardhi’s village, no one came.
“These instances reflect lack of supervision of the medical superintendent and other hospital staff members,” said Dr Bodade, adding, “Over half a dozen hospital employees are likely to be suspended for being negligent in their work. I have asked the contractor to remove the three drivers—Ravi Chowdhary, Aatish Mukne and Rajesh Gurav.”
Dr Marad defends decision
When mid-day contacted Dr Marad, he said, “We have six ambulances and have hired six drivers through an agency. All the six drivers are deployed daily on the day shift and one at in on the night shift. But in case of any emergency, suppose the night driver is out to bring a patient and we need another ambulance, we immediately call in another driver.”
When asked about the absent roster, he said, “The roster is prepared by the drivers. Both the night shift driver and the standby driver were out with patients. The number of the third driver was not reachable. The remaining three drivers were contacted by the hospital, but they refused to come. They have been removed,” Dr Marad told mid-day. Talking about the show-cause notice, he said, “I’ve learnt about the notice from you. I have not been served any such notice till date.”
On asking the guard to arrange the ambulance, he said, “I was informed about the child’s death by the security guard, so naturally, I will tell him to get an ambulance for them... There was an emergency case of a woman who was bleeding profusely, so the security guard informed me about the death and the medical officer Dr Ashok Nikam was present there when he called me.” Paediatrician Dr Kaviraj Bhoye had attended to Ajay. Talking about why the matron has been on medical leave repeatedly, Dr Marad said, “She is an old employee, and has been taking leaves for medical reasons. If I deny leave to any employee, they can allege harassment. So, I have to grant them leaves if the requirement is genuine.”
‘I have no words’
“I have no words. I don’t know what a show-cause notice is. I only know that I have lost my son and I had to carry his dead body on motorcycle in the bone-chilling cold,” said Yuvraj Pardhi, Ajay’s father.
Jan 25
Day the tribal child died
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