HC directs top officials to enumerate vacant doctors’ posts in Maharashtra hospitals

The bench went on to say, “Everything is there on paper but if it is not trickling down then there is no point.”

The Bombay High Court on Friday directed principal secretaries of the public health and medical education departments to provide details on sanctioned posts of doctors and medical staff across state-run hospitals and what steps have been taken over the last two months to fill up vacancies.

A division bench of chief justice D.K. Upadhyay and justice Arif Doctor took suo motu cognizance of 35 deaths that took place in a government-run hospital in Maharashtra’s Nanded district after advocate Mohit Khanna wrote a letter to the court on the issue.

Advocate General Birendra Saraf informed the court that a three-member panel had visited the government hospital in Nanded and found, “that most of the patients who died were brought at the last stage in extremely critical situations because private hospitals refused to take them.” He said, “There have been 11 to 20 deaths in a day in these hospitals before too” and added that there is a lot of pressure on government hospitals.

The court said, “You (state govt) cannot escape by saying there is a burden. You are the State. You cannot shift the responsibility/burden to the private players.”

Mr. Saraf contended, “There is no denying that there are issues. But it does not seem like there was any gross negligence by the hospitals. Of course, it is sad what has happened. People have died. Every death is unfortunate.”

The court noted, “Government hospitals associated with colleges, senior and junior residents have responsibility and even one empty post cannot be accepted in any situation.”

The bench went on to say, “Everything is there on paper but if it is not trickling down then there is no point. This is not just about procurement (of medicines and other equipment) but the general state of healthcare in Maharashtra. A decline in percentage of budgetary allocation for the department of public health, medical education and drugs is visible”.