Mumbai: Maharashtra Public Works Minister Ashok Chavan was on Thursday discharged from a hospital in Mumbai after testing negative for coronavirus. He was hospitalised on May 25 after testing COVID-19 positive. He will remain in home quarantine for a few days.
Chavan is the second minister in the Uddhav Thackeray government to diagnose coronavirus positive. Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad, after detecting coronavirus positive, was hospitalised in April but now he has recovered.
Permissions for an air ambulance could not be procured as Chavan was transported in the cardiac ambulance by road from his home town Nanded and admitted in the leading private hospital in Mumbai. He had attended some meetings before travelling back to Nanded. However, the decision to move him back to Mumbai came after Chavan’s oxygen level started fluctuating.
Why Chavan could not avail the air ambulance is still a mystery. This is despite the Ministry of Home Affairs in its guidelines clearly stated that air services are allowed for medical emergencies.
Chavan was appointed the Chief Minister in the wake of the Mumbai terror attack in 2008 but was forced to resign in 2010 after his name cropped up in the Aadarsh Housing Society scam.
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