Mumbai: Experts and officials have blamed Maharashtra’s controversial Health Minister Tanaji Sawant for the current crisis in the state. As many as 31 people, including 17 infants, died on a single day at the Shankarrao Chavan Government Hospital (SCGH) in Nanded on Monday. The following day 24 people died at the Chhatrapati Sambhaji Government Hospital in Aurangabad because of the non-availability of medicines.
On Wednesday, 14 people died at Nagpur’s Government Medical College & Hospital and nine died at the Indira Gandhi Hospital. Nagpur is the home turf of Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Shortage of medicines
The shortages of medicine have been blamed on delays in their procurement. For several months Sawant did not constitute a committee to expedite the purchase of medicines, sources told The Free Press Journal. The sources alleged that there was corruption in the purchase of drugs where the commission has to be paid to the people concerned for processing tenders.
“The condition of hospitals in rural Maharashtra is terrible because of gross mismanagement of government hospitals and shortage of staff and medicines. This is forcing people to make a beeline for Mumbai, where the facilities are relatively better,” an official told FPJ on condition of anonymity. “Ever since this government has come not a single decision in favour of patients has been taken and the result is there for all to see,” he added.
Mismanagement of funds
The extent of mismanagement can be gauged from the fact that the government had a budget of ₹12 crore for the hospital in Nanded, out of which ₹4 crore was for the purchase of medicines and equipment. No purchases were made and the balance ₹8 crore was not released at all.
A senior health official on condition of anonymity alleged that the corruption in the Public Health Department was so huge that nothing moved without paying a commission. For the past one year, there was a shortage of medicines in all public hospitals and the government was aware of it. And yet precious little was done to improve the situation. This resulted in a large number of deaths of the poor.
“Health Minister Tanaji Sawant has failed to provide good healthcare facilities to the public. In March he himself brought in the Medical Goods Procurement Authority Act and was also supposed to form a committee for expediting procurement, but to date, no committee has been formed for the purpose. As per my sources, I have learned that a commission as high as 30 to 40% is required to be paid to the persons concerned for clearing any tender,” a senior official alleged.
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole accused the Public Health Department authorities of demanding a 40% commission in the contracts pertaining to medical supplies, which he alleged was the reason for the deaths. He said the government did not learn any lesson after the Thane Municipal Corporation hospital at Kalwa recorded 18 deaths in the second week of August this year.
“The health system in the state is suffering from the disease of corruption and the entire system is on a ventilator. There aren’t enough doctors and staff in government hospitals and there is also a shortage of medicines. The equipment in the hospitals is dysfunctional and lying idle. If this is the state of health services in major cities, one can only imagine the condition in rural hospitals. A culpable homicide case should be filed against the state government,” Patole demanded.
Patole further highlighted the dire situation in government hospitals, citing staff shortages, insufficient doctors, and a scarcity of medicines.
Nanded hospital staff crunch
Meanwhile, according to recent data (2023-24) submitted to MUHS, the Nanded hospital is facing a staff crunch, particularly in the professorial roles responsible for training medical students and overseeing the primary course of treatment protocols. The data also showed that 42% of medical personnel positions, spanning departments such as paediatrics, general medicine, psychiatry, orthopaedics and others, are vacant.
Besides, over 60% of positions for senior resident doctors is vacant at the medical college. The state’s real-time budget allocation and utilisation data revealed that the hospital’s annual budget for supplies and materials of ₹1.16 crore. It has not utilised a single rupee even as ₹35 lakh has been disbursed till now, this year.
There has been no expenditure from nearly ₹67 lakh allocated in the budget for machinery, equipment, and repairs, even as nearly ₹15 lakh from the same has been released.
“Lack of medicines led to the death of patients in Nanded and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. The state government has funds for promotional events, advertisements and political expenditures, but they claim a lack of funds for purchasing medicines for the common people,” said an official.
As of Tuesday, the medical education sector has been allocated a budget of ₹84.43 crore, with Rs40.47 crore already utilised.
However, the hospital administration or senior doctors have given resident doctors a responsibility to handle patients by working for 48 to 72 hours due to staff crunch due to which patients care is compromised.
