Sangli hospital tragedy: Junior officer had denied okay for Covid-19 hospital

After local medical officer put a stay on application for facility on April 7, Dr Mahesh Jadhav used influence to get nod on April 14, probe shows

Police investigation has found that the Sangli civic chief Nitin Kapadnis granted Apexcare Hospital nod to run a Covid-19 facility even after the local medical officer put its application on hold. The medical officer had stayed the application on April 7.

Sangli civic chief Nitin Kapadnis

However, Kapadnis went ahead and approved it on April 14. The senior civic official told mid-day that Apexcare Hospital had written a letter to municipal commissioner Nitin Kapadnis on April 3 for permission. “Medical Officer of Health (Sangli) Dr Sunil Ambole on April 7 put a stay order on the application, but Kapadnis gave permission on April 14. Had he not given the permission, the precious lives of innocent poor patients could have been saved.”

Kapadnis did not answer mid-day’s calls and messages for comment on Thursday.

Accountant arrested

Sangli police on Thursday arrested Nisha Patil, the accountant of Apexcare Hospital, which fraudulently ran the dedicated Covid-19 facility, leading to the death of 87 patients. Patil allegedly colluded with Dr Jadhav in the scam. 

As the Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad Municipal Corporation commissioner’s name has come up in the case, police wrote to him seeking all the documents and communication letters related to granting of permission for the Dedicated Covid-19 Hospital (DCH).

An FDA official during a raid at Apexcare Hospital. Pics/Hanif Patel

Meanwhile, police have recorded the statements of the deceased patients’ family members. “Many families spent their entire savings trying to save the lives of their loved ones. Some even sold their jewellery to pay the exorbitant hospital bills,” said Shashikant Chavan, the in-charge of Mahatma Gandhi Chowk police station where the FIR has been registered.

Local social activist Ashish Kori asked why police have not arrested the civic chief who “granted the permission without checking the eligibility of Apexcare Hospital.”

The state secretary of BJP’s minority cell, Ashraf Wankar, said, “After all the hue and cry, Kapadnis had to pass an order to seal Apexcare Hospital on May 7. However, when my colleague Deepak Mane visited the hospital on May 10, he found patients there.”

‘Hospital hid deaths’

“We have also learnt that in some cases, after patients’ death, the hospital didn’t inform their families, and continued to inflate the bill. How can all this take place without the support of the civic body? Was Kapadnis not aware of this?” asked Wankar. He also alleged that doctors “prescribed medicines over telecommunication” as they never visited the hospital. “What were the government bodies doing when this loot was going on? This is a medical hub and people come here from nearby districts, and also from Karnataka.”

Hours after mid-day reported about the scam on June 21, officials of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conducted a raid at the hospital and confiscated medicines worth Rs 4.5 lakh. “The medicines were bought in the name of the hospital, but were being sold in the name of M J Cosmetic, a separate entity of Dr Jadhav,” Nitin Bhandarkar, assistant commissioner of FDA, Sangli, told mid-day.

Meanwhile, police are examining the call data records of the accused and checking the backgrounds of the persons contacted the most.

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