HC Notice to MCI, Maharashtra Medical council, TMC on alleged corruption at Thane Hospital

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has issued notices to Medical Council Of India,Maharashtra Medical Council, as well as the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) in response to a PIL filed by a health activist Vikran Tawade, against the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj hospital, Kalwa at Thane. The Public Interest Litigation, which was filed in June this year, claimed large scale corruption, mismanagement and wastage of public money at the concerned hospital.

The PIL has alleged several issues within the hospital like selling hospital machines to outsiders at hospital counters, tenders not being issued for works more than worth Rs. 3000, no late being fee levied on contractors who deliver beyond the promised due date, reads a Dna report.

The petitioner has further has alleged large scale duping in corruption of hospital administration. Referring to several instances of corruption and mismanagement Tawade in his PIL had raised the following issues:

• In the PIL Tawade had alleged that in 2013, Thane Municipal Corporation inaugurated modular operation theater (OT) at the said hospital with much fanfare and over Rs 13 crore were spent on the OT which was built. The same operation theater is in shambles now and is not completely functional.


• The PIL further questions- "In the past three years, surgical equipment were bought by TMC to be used at the OT. Since the OT is not functional, we would like to know as the citizen of Thane, what happened to those equipments?"


• Previous to this alleged scam, in 1995-96, during the time when the operation theatre was not modular, arthroscopy machine was brought worth Rs. 20 Lakh. The petitioner claimed that “They were used five or six times at the hospital and were later sold off as junk.”


• The petitioner further stated that the HIV centre, which was built to cater to HIV patients, has never been operational and then it was later constructed into casualty ward without any permission.

The PIL was heard by judicial bench that consisted of hon'ble justices Dr Manjula Chellur and M S Sonak. It will be heard again on October 24.