12 Maharashtra Hospitals issued show-cause notices after inspections

Pune: The Maharashtra Health Department has issued show-cause notices to the medical superintendents of 12 government hospitals across Pune, Satara, and Solapur districts after surprise inspections that revealed poor cleanliness, lack of maintenance, and hygiene violations in several facilities.

The medical superintendents who received the notices include those from Sub-District Hospital, Lonavala, Rural Hospitals at Kale Colony and Shikrapur in Pune district; Rural Hospitals at Patan, Vaduj, and Dhaiwadi, and Sub-District Hospital, Dhaiwadi in Satara district; as well as Women’s Hospital, Solapur, and Rural Hospitals at Mangalwedha, Madha, Shetphal, and Mandrup in Solapur district.

The action follows surprise inspections conducted between September 23 and 27, 2025, during which around 14 inspection teams visited 68 healthcare facilities, each team including senior officers and technical experts.

Also read- V N Desai Hospital Medical Superintendent served notice over administrative lapses

In Pune district, six teams inspected 28 hospitals, including one district hospital, one women’s hospital, six sub-district hospitals, and 20 rural hospitals. In Satara, four teams covered 19 hospitals, while in Solapur, another four teams checked 21 hospitals, according to officials.

During the inspections, the teams found that several hospitals failed to follow basic hygiene and cleaning schedules. Though all government hospitals have cleaning plans, daily, weekly, and monthly cleaning schedules were not followed, and records were not maintained properly.

Labour rooms, operation theatres, post-mortem rooms, and toilets were found dirty, while newborn care units and biomedical waste management were not up to standard. Many hospitals also lacked cleanliness checklists, handwashing instructions, and information displays, and overall, sanitation needed major improvement.

Following these findings, the government issued show-cause notices to the medical superintendents of 12 hospitals between October 13 and 27, 2025.

The inspections were ordered after the department received several complaints about poor healthcare services and the inconvenience faced by patients in government hospitals across the three districts.

Health Minister Prakash Abitkar had directed the inspections on September 25, 2025, after which Dr Bhagwan Pawar, Deputy Director of Health Services, Pune Division, oversaw the process covering district, women’s, sub-district, and rural hospitals.

Dr Pawar told HT, “We have warned the hospital heads to make improvements in their cleanliness and hygiene to avoid administrative action as per the provisions of the Maharashtra Civil Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1979. Once all hospitals inform us that their compliance is completed, a re-inspection will be carried out. New teams will be appointed to conduct the re-inspection of these hospitals. However, in case of non-compliance, stern action will be taken against the respective official/s."

Also read- Assam Gynaecologist served notice for performing 21 C-sections in just 10 hours