Sangli hospital tragedy: Junior officer had denied okay for Covid-19 hospital

Police investigation has found that the Sangli civic chief Nitin Kapadnis granted Apexcare Hospital nod to run a Covid19 facility even after the local medical officer put its application on hold The medical officer had stayed the application on April 7Sangli civic chief Nitin KapadnisHowever Kapadnis went ahead and approved it on April 14 The senior civic official told midday that Apexcare Hospital had written a letter to municipal commissioner Nitin Kapadnis on April 3 for permission ldquoMedical Officer of Health Sangli Dr Sunil Ambole on April 7 put a stay order on the application but Kapadnis gave permission on April 14 Had he not given the permission the precious lives of innocent poor patients could have been savedrdquoKapadnis did not answer middayrsquos calls and messages for comment on ThursdayAccountant arrestedSangli police on Thursday arrested Nisha Patil the accountant of Apexcare Hospital which fraudulently ran the dedicated Covid19 facility leading to the death of 87 patients Patil allegedly colluded with Dr Jadhav in the scamAs the SangliMirajKupwad Municipal Corporation commissionerrsquos name has come up in the case police wrote to him seeking all the documents and communication letters related to granting of permission for the Dedicated Covid19 Hospital DCHAn FDA official during a raid at Apexcare Hospital PicsHanif PatelMeanwhile police have recorded the statements of the deceased patientsrsquo family members ldquoMany families spent their entire savings trying to save the lives of their loved ones Some even sold their jewellery to pay the exorbitant hospital billsrdquo said Shashikant Chavan the incharge of Mahatma Gandhi Chowk police station where the FIR has been registeredLocal social activist Ashish Kori asked why police have not arrested the civic chief who ldquogranted the permission without checking the eligibility of Apexcare HospitalrdquoThe state secretary of BJPrsquos minority cell Ashraf Wankar said ldquoAfter all the hue and cry Kapadnis had to pass an order to seal Apexcare Hospital on May 7 However when my colleague Deepak Mane visited the hospital on May 10 he found patients thererdquolsquoHospital hid deathsrsquoldquoWe have also learnt that in some cases after patientsrsquo death the hospital didnrsquot inform their families and continued to inflate the bill How can all this take place without the support of the civic body Was Kapadnis not aware of thisrdquo asked Wankar He also alleged that doctors ldquoprescribed medicines over telecommunicationrdquo as they never visited the hospital ldquoWhat were the government bodies doing when this loot was going on This is a medical hub and people come here from nearby districts and also from KarnatakardquoHours after midday reported about the scam on June 21 officials of the Food and Drug Administration FDA conducted a raid at the hospital and confiscated medicines worth Rs 45 lakh ldquoThe medicines were bought in the name of the hospital but were being sold in the name of M J Cosmetic a separate entity of Dr Jadhavrdquo Nitin Bhandarkar assistant commissioner of FDA Sangli told middayMeanwhile police are examining the call data records of the accused and checking the backgrounds of the persons contacted the most