Dr. P. Ramesh Babu, managing director of Ramesh Hospitals, who is absconding along with the owners of Hotel Swarna Palace, soon after the fire mishap in the hotel-turned COVID Care Centre, filed a petition in court on Monday for anticipatory bail.
Ten patients died and 20 others injured in the fire accident occurred in the COVID Care Centre, run by the management of Ramesh Hospitals at Eluru Road in the city on August 9. The accused have been at large for the last nine days.
The hospital managing director filed the anticipatory bail petition in the Eighth Additional District Magistrate Court. The hearing was adjourned to August 21.
The Governorpet police registered a case against the hospital and hotel management on the charges of negligence, homicide not amounting to murder and other charges. As many as 31 patients and ten hospital staff members were present in the care centre, when fire broke out in the ground floor of the hotel.
A team, comprising the officials of the Police, Revenue, Medical and Health, AP State Disaster Response and Fire Services departments, Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) was constituted to find out violations and lapses in running the COVID Care Centre by the hospital management.
However, Ramesh Babu, in a press release said the hospital management, was not responsible for the incident and it was the responsibility of the hotel owners to take care of the patients.
Probe conducted
Investigation teams conducted probe separately on the fire safety, COVID-19 protocol, fees collected from the patients, agreement made between the hospital and hotel managements, fire NOC, building plan, absence of fire-fighting equipment and other issues.
The South Zone police, who are investigating the case, arrested Ramesh Hospitals general manager K. Sudershan, chief operating officer K. Rajagopala Rao and COVID Care Centre manager Venkatesh. They questioned Guntur branch chief operating officer Dr. R. Mamatha and others in the case.
Meanwhile, the arrested hospital staff filed a bail petition in the lower court, and the arguments on the petition were adjourned to August 21.
Officials probing into fire safety, COVID-19 protocol, fee pattern and other aspects reportedly found that both Ramesh Hospitals and Hotel Swarna Palace managements violated the norms and acted negligently causing the fire mishap.