The Arnala police last week filed a chargesheet against the owners and directors of 90-bed, Vijay Vallabh hospital in Virar, where a fire in the intensive care unit (ICU) killed 15 Covid-19 patients and injured three in the early hours of April 23, 2021. The chargesheet stated that the accused knew there could be a fire incident but took no steps.
The cause of fire was a smaller capacity a/c in ICU, leading to excess load in the unit, which ultimately caused a blast.The chargesheet mentioned that the hospital management had not followed provisions of the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act and no permanent safety agency was appointed to carry out fire audit of the building. The hospital had not obtained a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation for the year 2021-22. It had lapsed 23 days back.
The chargesheet, filed in the Vasai sessions court, has named hospital owners Bastimal Shah, his son, chief executive officer Dr Dilip Shah (56), and chief administrative officer Dr Shailesh Pathak (47) under Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Dr Shah and Dr Pathak, who were arrested on April 25, are out on bail. Bastimal, a senior citizen, was not arrested due to the pandemic. No other medical staff of the hospital was booked. The hospital remains sealed. The first hearing is likely to be held in October.
Additional public prosecutor Jayprakash Patil said there is sufficient evidence against the hospital. In the chargesheet, the investigating officer stated that the doctors Shah and Pathak had knowledge that there may be a possibility of an incident of fire in the hospital, but no steps were taken by them. The investigating officer stated that there was a delay of over 30 minutes in reporting the fire to the Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation fire brigade. The call was received by the fire brigade at 3.13 am. The fire vehicles reached the hospital at 3.18 am, by which time the second-floor ICU was completely charred, the chargesheet stated.
Investigations were done by the Mira Bhayander Vasai Virar (MBVV) crime unit 2. While bodies of 13 patients, including five women, were found in the ICU, two male patients who were rescued died while being shifted to other hospitals. The three injured patients included two women. The NOC issued by the VVMC on March 14, 2020 was valid till March 31, 2021.
Dr Shah and Pathak, whose bail pleas were rejected by Vasai sessions court in April, were granted bail by Bombay HC on May 13. Meanwhile, families of victims on July 12 received the Rs 2 lakh ex-gratia announced by Centre, while the kin of the injured got Rs 50,000.
