In connection with the fire at the district civil hospital in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar that killed 11 patients, a local court on Wednesday sent a woman medical officer and three staff nurses are arrested and have been sent to police custody till November 12.
Dr Vishakha Shinde and nurses Sapna Pathare, Asma Shaikh and Channa Anant, have been arrested under sections 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 304 A (causing death by negligence) of the IPC.
Ahmednagar Superintendent of Police Manoj Patil said, “The four accused were produced before a court and remanded to police custody till November 12.”
The fire broke out in the intensive care unit ward of the district civil hospital on November 6 that killed at least 11 patients. The state government has suspended Ahmednagar district civil surgeon Dr Sunil Pokharna, medical officers Dr Suresh Dhakne and Dr Vishakha Shinde, and staff nurse Sapna Pathare, while services of nurses Asma Shaikh and Channa Anant were terminated.
Dr Shinde was on duty at the hospital on November 6, but she failed to report the incident, the official had said. Investigations have revealed that the three staff nurses were outside the ICU when the fire occurred, Patil had said earlier, adding that they were not supposed to leave the ICU.
A staff nurse’s primary job was to safeguard the patients in the event of a blaze at the ICU, he had said. According to the official, relatives of the patients had to rush to the ICU to save their near and dear ones, while the staff nurses waited outside
