In a shocking incident in the city of Pune, a ward boy working in the Sahyadri Hospital in Hadapsar was arrested for allegedly molesting a patient admitted in the COVID-19 facility on Saturday.
As per the report that has been published by Pune Mirror, the incident took place on Friday evening and the accused has been identified as Ashok Namdev Gawali.
The accused entered the ICU on Friday evening, tried to make sexual advances and sought the woman patient's number, and when she tried to shoo him away, he molested her, a Hadapsar police station official said.
"The accused left after a female staffer entered the ICU. The victim narrated the incident to her kin after which a police complaint was filed. The man was arrested under section 354 of IPC," he informed.
Following the incident, Gawali was terminated from his service by Sahyadri hospital.
As per the report, the woman was admitted to the hospital on July 22 followed by the COVID-19 like symptoms; she later tested positive. After recovering well, she was shifted to the general ward where the alleged incident happened.
Meanwhile, The COVID-19 count in Pune city increased by 1,506 in the last 24 hours to reach 55,761 while the death toll rose by 23 to touch 1,335, an official said on Saturday.
He said 1,791 patients were discharged post-recovery during the day as well.
Maharashtra on Saturday recorded 9,601 new COVID-19 cases and 322 deaths, taking the state's count of coronavirus cases to 4,31,719.
The active cases in the state stand at 1,49,214 while 2,66,883 people have recovered from the infection.
"Maharashtra reported 9,601 COVID-19 cases and 322 deaths on Saturday, taking total cases to 4,31,719 including 2,66,883 recoveries and 15,316 deaths. The number of active cases stands at 1,49,214 out of which 46,345 cases are in Pune," said State Health Department.
Recovery rate in the state is 61.82 percent while the death rate is 3.55 percent.
(With inputs from PTI)
