Maharashtra hospital deaths: Bombay High Court takes suo motu cognizance

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday took suo motu cognizance of the recent deaths of patients in government hospitals in the Nanded and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar districts in Maharashtra..A division bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor took cognizance after a lawyer approached the court with a letter. The bench directed the petitioner, advocate Mohit Khanna to file a proper petition including all the research undertaken by him on the issue, and supply a copy of the same to the State.It also asked Maharashtra Advocate General Birendra Saraf to submit details about the budgetary allocation of the Maharashtra government for health.The Court will hear the matter next on October 6, Friday..The bench remarked that if the deaths were occurring due to a lack of manpower and/or medicines, the same was unacceptable.Saraf assured the Court that he would collect all information about the incidents in the hospitals and apprise the court on the next hearing date. The Court also asked Saraf to collect details about specialist doctors in the hospitals..Khanna had submitted a letter to the Court in the morning of Wednesday and requested the Court to take suo motu cognizance. In his letter, Khanna raised concerns over 31 deaths including infants at Dr Shankarrao Chavan Government Medical College and Hospitals (GMCH) in Nanded and 14 deaths at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Government Hospital.The hospitals in their statements cited shortage of beds, doctors and essential medicines as the primary reason for the deaths, Khanna pointed out in his letter. He claimed the same was a violation of right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution..The bench in the morning asked Khanna to file a proper petition by including all data regarding the vacancies in hospitals, availability of medicines and the budget allocated by the government for hospitals.However after lunch, the Court informed the parties that it was taking cognizance of the issue suo motu and that Khanna would be the amicus in the case.Meanwhile, 24 more people died in government hospitals in Nagpur taking the total death toll to 70, Deccan Herald reported.