On Thursday, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope answered to all the critics of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Government, including former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, over the Sion Hospital incident.
For the unintiated, a video from Sion Hospital in Mumbai went viral on social media. The video shows at least four dead bodies wrapped in black plastic on beds next to the patients in the hospital.
The video was tweeted by BJP MP Nitesh Rane. Slamming the BMC, he said, “In Sion hospital..patients r sleeping next to dead bodies!!! This is the extreme..what kind of administration is this! Very very shameful!! (sic)."
Later, Dr Pramod Ingale, Dean of Sion Hospital confirmed that video and said, “We are contacting the deceased relatives and handing over the bodies to them.”
Devendra Fadnavis said that the incident was extremely serious and shocking. "Patients which are being treated are lying beside dead bodies. This is utterly inhuman. Is there no one to care for Mumbai? Govt must immediately look into this & ensure that it doesn’t happen ever again!"
Meanwhile, Tope said that there was no point in doing politics over it. "A video from Sion Hospital has gone viral on social media where a body can be seen with a patient. There is no point in doing politics over it. As per protocol,if a patient dies the body has to be covered in black to avoid spread of disease," he said.
Rajesh Tope added, "Within 30 minute relatives of the deceased should take away the body but sometime they hesitate. Then it has to go to mortuary. Following all the procedure takes time. Now we have instructed that body should be disposed off in less than 30 minutes.
