Seventeen patients have died in the last 24 hours in civic-run Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital in Kalwa in Thane city, Maharashtra minister Tanaji Sawant and a senior police official said on Sunday.
The police official said the management of the facility have cited critical nature of the patients as well as age as causes.
State health minister Sawant said the dean of the hospital has been asked to submit a report in two days.
A Thane Municipal Corporation official said the deaths were being analysed and several civic officials are at the heavily-patronised facility for inspection of records etc.
Some officials put the toll at 18, comprising 10 males and eight females, but this could not be confirmed.
Speaking to PTI, Deputy Commissioner of Police Ganesh Gawde said, "We have information of 17 deaths in the last 24 hours. We have been told the usual figure per day is six to seven." "The hospital management told us some of the patients arrived there in a critical stage and succumbed during treatment. Some were elderly. We have increased police presence at the hospital to avoid any untoward incident due to these high number of deaths," the DCP informed.
Sawant said the dean of the hospital has been asked to submit a report in two days on the 17 deaths in the last 24 hours.
"Of these 17, a total of 13 were in the ICU. A few days ago, five patients had died in the hospital. The state government has asked the dean to submit a report in two days," the minister told reporters in Pune.
"Action will be taken as per the report of the dean. This hospital comes under the state medical education and research department. Its minister Hasan Mushrif has reached the hospital and he is looking into the matter," Sawant said.
Maharashtra minister and BJP leader Girish Mahajan said "16 deaths" in a a single day in a hospital with a capacity of 500 was a matter of concern.
NCP leader and MLA from the region Jitendra Awhad said the hospital was mismanaged and asked the administration to set things right before it was too late.
Former Thane mayor Naresh Mhakse, who is also spokesperson of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, said the hospital was "over loaded" and was treating 650 patients per day against a capacity of 500.
The civil hospital in the area is being renovated so the load falls on this facility in Kalwa, Mhaske claimed.
Hospital sources, meanwhile, said some doctors were down with dengue which was also affecting the running of the facility.
Local MNS leader Avinash Jadhav sought proactive measures to improve the efficiency of the hospital.
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