Nagpur: The sessions court in Bhandara is set to hear the anticipatory bail pleas of the two terminated contractual staff nurses of Bhandara district general hospital, Shubhangi Sathawane and Smita Ambildukhe, on Monday while district police too are ready to oppose them vehemently for taking the two into custody for interrogation. An offence was registered on Thursday, 40 days after the incident.
Sathawane and Ambildukhe have been slapped with culpable homicide not amounting to murder under 304 (Part II) of the Indian penal code (IPC) for their alleged role behind criminal negligence during duty at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of the district hospital leading to the deaths of 10 babies in a devastating fire in the early hours of January 9. The offence against the nurses was registered by sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Arun Wayekar of Sakoli division at Bhandara police station, informed state director general of police Hemant Nagrale.
State home minister Anil Deshmukh, sharing his statement through social media, has stated the investigation into the case would be conducted by an officer of SDPO-level.
District sources stated there had been a 20-minute lapse which had led to the tragic incident. It’s learnt that the first spark was noticed at 1.19am at the NICU ward. The staff nurses, Ambildukhe and Sathawane, were supposed to be either inside the neonatal intensive care units or at the nursing stations. The nurses are learnt to be not present at the place where they were supposed to be. District sources stated the smoke had started bellowing out of the intensive care units at 1.40am but by then the fire had already gutted down a substantial part of the ward in which the ill-fated babies were present.
“The 20-minute lapse had led to the deaths of 10 babies. At least five babies could have been saved out of the 10 if the nurses were more alert,” said a source.
It’s also learnt that one of the nurses was engaged in chatting on the phone for over 10-15 minutes when the flames were engulfing the babies inside the NICU. Sources stated that cyber experts have also found out that one of the nurses was busy on Facebook and social media on duty, the time when the incident had taken place.
It’s also learnt that Ambildukhe and Sathawane were instrumental in saving some babies too with the help of their colleagues from the flames but after the maximum damage was done.
It’s learnt that the police have compiled substantial evidence against the nurses, including technical details of their activities before holding them responsible for the criminal negligence.
Earlier, the contracts of the two staff nurses, Sathawane and Ambildukhe, were terminated after the expert committee inquiry reports were tabled before the health department of the state government in January. Civil surgeon Dr Pramod Khandate was suspended and Addl CS Dr Sunita Badhe and sister-in-charge Jyoti Bharaskar were transferred following the findings of the expert committee.
SP Vasant Jadhav said the investigation is going on in the case. “We would oppose the bail pleas of the nurses,” he said.