A first information report was registered against Shiv Sena MP Hemant Patil on Wednesday after he allegedly made the acting dean of a government hospital in Nanded clean toilets, PTI reported.
Patil visited the Dr Shankarrao Chavan Government Medical College and Hospital on Tuesday after it reported 31 deaths within two days due to alleged shortage of medicines and medical help. The hospital records 10 to 14 deaths per day on average.
Patil visited dean Dr Shyamrao Wakode’s office when the latter was busy preparing for a minister’s inspection, PTI reported citing the FIR. While inspecting the wards, Patil asked Wakode that he be shown the toilet. When he saw that the toilet was in a dirty condition, Patil instructed Wakode to clean it. The politician’s aides allegedly shot the video and shared it on social media.
“The government spends crores but I am pained to see the situation here,” Patil told reporters. “The toilets have not been cleaned for months. The toilets in the wards of the hospital are locked. No water is available in toilets.”
Subsequently, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi party members staged a protest at the medical college against the incident and demanded police action against Patil, reported The Indian Express. Patil belongs to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s faction of the Shiv Sena.
The Maharashtra State Association of Resident Doctors also demanded an unconditional apology from Patil after the video was widely shared on social media, reported the Hindustan Times.
The doctors’ association said, “After witnessing the event, the doctors and the subordinated of the college administration’s top brass are left with hopelessness and despair that despite their best efforts in managing patients with a serious lack of resources, they are being made the scapegoat of the failure of the administration in providing quality health care”.
The FIR was registered after Wakode filed a complaint against the legislator.
Patil has been booked under sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 500 (punishment for defamation), and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
The MP has also been booked under provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and Maharashtra Medicare Service Persons and Medicare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage or Loss to Property) Act, 2010, The Indian Express reported quoting an unidentified police officer.
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