Pune Woman's Death: CM Devendra Fadnavis Promises SOP To Avoid Such Incidents; Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital Announces 'No Deposit' Policy; VIDEO

Pune, Apr 5: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday said his government is working on drafting a standard operating procedure (SOP) to prevent incidents like the one at Pune's Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital.

The hospital is under fire from political parties and citizens' groups over a pregnant woman's death after she was allegedly refused admission over non-payment of a Rs 10 lakh deposit.

Tanisha Bhise, wife of the personal secretary of BJP MLC Amit Gorkhe, died at another facility after giving birth to twin daughters. Mistakes need to be corrected, the chief minister told reporters after the Bhise family and Gorkhe met him here seeking strict action against the hospital administration.

"The family of the deceased met me, and I have assured them that a committee has been formed to probe the incident. I told them strict action will be taken against those found responsible. The state government is working on SOPs to avoid such incidents in the future and the Charity Commissioner Office will be given a memorandum about it," he said.

When asked about complaints against several charitable hospitals, the Chief Minister said amendments had recently been made during the Assembly session to give additional powers to the Charity Commissioner.

"Our effort is to bring the entire charity hospital system onto one platform to ensure transparency and accountability in bed allocation. To monitor this, we are also planning to link the CM's Medical Help cell to the system," Fadnavis said.

Speaking about the demand of protesters that an FIR be registered in connection with the woman's death, the CM said, "Whatever is warranted in the case will be done. A committee under the Joint Commissioner of Charity is looking into the matter. If an FIR needs to be registered, it will be done after the inquiry report is submitted."

Responding to the open letter issued by Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, in which the hospital expressed hurt over the use of the word "insensitivity, he acknowledged the efforts that went into setting up the hospital.

"Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital was built following huge efforts by the Mangeshkar family, but mistakes need to be corrected. There are some primary findings from the committee. However, it is not appropriate to comment till complete findings are noted," the chief minister said.

"I'm not saying everything done by the hospital was wrong, but the recent incident was indeed of an insensitive nature. If they are working to correct the mistake, I welcome it," Fadnavis added.

A member of the Bhise family said the chief minister listened to their version of the incident. "We requested him to take action on hospital officials. We hope the CM will give us justice," the family member said.

Earlier in the day, the hospital announced it would no longer ask for deposits from patients at the emergency department in view of the latest events.

"In the early years of Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, we never took a deposit. But as the number of critical cases increased and the cost of complex treatments rose, the hospital began taking deposits in certain high-cost cases," the hospital's medical director Dr Dhananjay Kelkar stated in an open letter.

"However, in light of yesterday's events, we have re-evaluated this practice and passed a resolution that the hospital will no longer take any deposit from patients entering through the Emergency Department, including emergency deliveries and paediatric emergencies. This will be implemented with immediate effect," he said.

He defended the hospital by reiterating that he had personally told the woman's kin to pay as per their ability and also offered all help, but they left with the patient without informing anyone.

While it is factually incorrect and unfair to hold the hospital directly responsible for the incident and the unfortunate death, the hospital is still investigating whether it showed adequate sensitivity towards the patient, Dr Kelkar added.

Alluding to the protests at the hospital by various political parties on Friday, Dr Kelkar termed it a "black day". Speaking about the protests, Fadnavis said while public anger was justified, some individuals were now engaging in "showbazi" (drama), which should be avoided.

He also condemned the damage to the hospital owned by the mother of Dr Sushrut Ghaisas, which was allegedly carried out by the women's wing of the BJP. Police have filed a case in this regard.

Dr Ghaisas has been accused by the kin of the deceased woman seeking the deposit ahead of admission. Protests continued outside the hospital on Saturday with activists of NCP (SP), Akhand Maratha Morcha, and Lahuji Shakti Sena demanding registration of a case against doctors of the hospital.

Some members of Lahuji Shakti Sena went to the terrace of the hospital and raised slogans against the administration. They were later brought down by police with the help of the fire brigade.

An internal inquiry report of the Mangeshkar Hospital on Friday claimed that the allegations of denial of admission for non-payment of Rs 10 lakh were "misleading" and made "out of frustration" by her family.

(Disclaimer: Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)

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