The Maharashtra government reduced the budgetary allocation for public health by 7% from 2022-23 to 2023-24. This shows the priorities of the government.
Credit: PTI Photo
Maharashtra is witnessing a serial tragedy with mass deaths of patients in its hospitals. A government medical college and hospital in Nanded saw the death of 31 patients — nearly half of them newborns and children — in the span of 48 hours a few days ago. Two government-run hospitals in Nagpur reported 23 deaths in one day. There were reports of many deaths in a hospital in Sambhaji Nagar (Aurangabad). At least 18 patients died in one day in August at a hospital in Thane. These were not patients affected by an epidemic but ones who had various ailments. Most of them were poor patients who could not afford the high cost of treatment in private hospitals.
So many deaths in so few days expose the poor state of government hospitals and the care that patients get there. The administration first said that there was overcrowding and shortage of staff and medicines. It is not clear why these issues led to so many deaths in so short a time. Do these reasons hold for the mass deaths at other hospitals in other towns, too? They soon came up with the strange explanation that the patients did not respond to treatment though they were well taken care of. The authorities have to take responsibility for the poor conditions in the hospitals and the poor care the patients got. These conditions would not have materialised suddenly but would have existed for long. There are reports that the hospitals were badly understaffed and basic medicines were not available due to procurement delays. The delays have been attributed to corruption. The 500-bed Nanded hospital, which admitted twice that number of patients, had no MRI machine and CT scanner. Those who allowed such a situation to perpetuate should be held accountable. This should include the political authorities who are quick to take credit for all positives but wash their hands off all negatives.
The state government has formed a three-member committee to investigate the deaths and submit a report. The committee that probed the deaths in Thane in August has not yet submitted its report. The government also does not want the deaths to be “politicised”. But it is for the government to improve the system, including the staff, infrastructure, the facilities, and the environment in the hospitals. The Maharashtra government reduced the budgetary allocation for public health by 7% from 2022-23 to 2023-24. This shows the priorities of the government. Improvements are also not to be brought about by filing a case against the dean of the hospital or forcing him to clean a dirty toilet, as the Shiv Sena MP Hemant Patil did. The buck stops with the government and elected representatives.