The family had brought Anjali to the hospital on Saturday
A government hospital in Maharashtra's Nanded has witnessed 31 deaths in three days, the dead include 16 children. Behind these 31 deaths are crushing stories of 31 families that made every effort to save their loved ones but failed. Some travelled hundreds of kilometres, others pawned off jewellery for treatment costs, but a dysfunctional medical infrastructure let them down.
On Ground Zero, NDTV spoke to one such family which has lost two members, one of them a newborn. Twenty-one-year-old Anjali from Nanded district was admitted to Dr Shankarrao Chavan Government Medical College and Hospital on Saturday. Hours later, she delivered a healthy son. Anjali's brother, mother and other relatives, who had accompanied her to the hospital, were delighted to welcome the little one. But the happiness did not last long. "On Monday, the doctors told us that the baby had died and that my sister's condition was serious. Today, they told us that she had left us," Anjali's brother Rajiv told NDTV. The family was waiting for their daughter's body outside the hospital. Rajiv was trying to comfort his mother, who went from welcoming a grandchild to mourning her daughter in three days.
Asked if the hospital authorities had told them the cause of death, Rajiv said, "They are saying my sister died of blood loss. But we had arranged for blood, we had arranged for everything. There are no proper doctors here. No patient should come here."
Rajiv said they had not informed Anjali of her son's death. "She was looking for the baby after he died. We did not tell her to shield her from the shock. But we could not save her," he said.
The youngster, who makes bricks for a living, said the family had borrowed money on interest for his elder sister's treatment. "We spent Rs 45,000. My mother also sold her gold earrings. But it was all for nothing. My sister is dead," he said.
The family alleged that no senior doctor was available, and only trainee doctors attended to Anjali. "We bring people to the hospital so that they get better. We are poor, where do we go?" said a woman relative, fighting back her tears.
When Rajiv was told that the hospital authorities have claimed that there was no shortage of doctors or medicines, he shot back. "There are no medicines. They would write down the names of medicines. We bought everything from outside. Even tests are not happening here. We got them done at a private laboratory." The family also alleged that the pouches of blood they got for Anjali was used in the treatment of other patients.
The spike in deaths at the Nanded hospital have raised glaring questions on the state of infrastructure and hygiene at the facility. During a visit to the hospital, the NDTV saw pigs roaming around next to the hospital canteen. A contractual sweeper said there is a staff crunch and one worker is tasked with cleaning multiple wards. "There should be two-three cleaners in every ward. How will one person handle multiple wards?" he said.
With the string of deaths making national headlines, political leaders are making a beeline for the hospital. This has led to cases of knee-jerk reactions, such as the local Shiv Sena MP making the acting dean of the hospital clean a dirty toilet. A case has now been registered against Sena MP Hemant Patil.
The Maharashtra government has maintained that there is no shortage of medicines and doctors at the Nanded hospital. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde yesterday said his government had taken the deaths very seriously, but denied any shortage of medicines.
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