Thane: Three more patients died at the municipal-run Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital at Kalwa in Thane district, taking the toll to 21 since Saturday last, while authorities started moving patients who are not in a serious condition and new admissions to a civil hospital nearby if they are willing to be relocated, officials said on Monday.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde visited the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (CSM)
Hospital and announced Rs 71 crore funds for creation of various facilities to treat patients coming from rural parts of Thane district, and promised action against those responsible for the deaths.
Shinde, who was accompanied by civic chief Abhijit Bangar and district collector Ashok Shingare, said the patient deaths at the CSM Hospital, located in his political turf Thane, were painful and asked all parties to desist from indulging in politics on the issue.
Thane's Additional Municipal Commissioner (in-charge of health services) Sandeep Malvi said in the 24-hour period ended on Monday morning, three more patients died at the civic-run hospital, while one patient was brought dead.
He, however, did not disclose causes of their death.
The number of deaths at the Kalwa-based hospital has come down in the last 24 hours and the details are being compiled and analysed, Malvi said.
The CSM Hospital had reported 18 deaths in a 24-hour period between Saturday and Sunday, following which Chief Minister Shinde ordered setting up of an independent committee to carry out a probe into the clinical aspect of the deaths.
With this, 21 patients have died at the municipal corporation-run facility since Saturday last.
The CSM Hospital was "over-loaded" and treating nearly 600 patients per day against its capacity of 500, as per officials.
The Civil Hospital located nearby in the city is being renovated, so the load falls on the Kalwa facility, former Thane mayor Naresh Mhakse, who is also spokesperson of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, said on Sunday.
Dr Aniruddha Malgaonkar, medical superintendent of the CSM Hospital, on Monday said the option of shifting patients to the Civil Hospital has been left to them.
"We will shift only those patients who are recovering and from among the new admissions," he said.
The CSM Hospital admits around 150 new patients per day, which has heavily increased its load, he claimed.
The Civil Hospital, located at a short distance from the CSM Hospital, has a capacity of 350 beds and its occupancy is about 50 per cent, as per officials.
Asked about three deaths reported in the last 24 hours compared to 18 in the previous one day, a civic official said on Saturday and a couple of days before it, some extremely serious patients were admitted to the CSM Hospital.