Kalwa hosp deaths: Panel flags lapses by dean, 5 docs

THANE: A high-level committee that probed the sudden spike in patient deaths-18 in 24 hours-at Kalwa's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital in August found lapses in the functioning of six staffers, including the then acting dean, Dr Rakesh Barot. The Thane Municipal Corporation has started issuing notices to the six, including the head of the medicine department, an associate professor, an assistant professor and two junior doctors, civic commissioner Abhijit Bangar told TOI.

"The report said the two professors and two junior doctors were not present in their departments, while it noted supervisory lapses on the part of the dean and head of the department," said an official.

18 deaths in 24 hours at Kalwa hospital: 2 get notices, 4 others to receive them today
Dr Rakesh Barot, acting dean of Kalwa’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital (CSMH) when it saw 18 deaths within 24 hours in August, as well as the head of the medicine department, an associate professor, assistant professor and two junior doctors would be served notices, Thane civic commissioner Abhijit Bangar told TOI from Nagpur, where the legislative session is on. While the professors were served notices on Wednesday after minister Uday Samant’s reply and given 24 hours to reply, the rest would be issued notices on Thursday. After BJP MLC Niranjan Davkhare sought information about the committee’s report in the legislative council, Samant replied saying that action was being taken against the staff found responsible for the lapses that led to the 18 deaths at CSMH.


The report was formally submitted to the urban development department and later to the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC). On August 12, 18 patients — 10 women and eight men — died within a span of 24 hours at the TMC-run hospital, which is also a medical college. While the youngest victim was a four-year-old boy from Shahpur, the majority of the deaths occurred among the elderly, with the oldest being an 83-year-old woman from Kalyan.

As the Kalwa hospital is the only big tertiary care centre in the Thane-Kalyan belt, it receives many serious patients. While five deaths are recorded on an average at the hospital, the 18 deaths were too high, especially as CSMH is located in the stronghold of CM Eknath Shinde. Opposition leaders had criticised the incident and alleged the state government was shielding those accused of the deaths. On August 14, Shinde had visited the hospital and later commissioned a high-level committee, led by the director of the health department, to probe the incident. The report was to be handed over to the government within 10 days; it was submitted mid-September. It may be noted that the administration had already started taking few corrective actions such as inducting staff. A search is on for a fulltime dean at the Kalwa facility, said officials.