Nagpur: Hundreds of patients admitted at Hope Hospital had a miraculous escape on Saturday after enraged kin of a deceased patient tried to set it afire over ‘exorbitant charges’ levied to treat those suffering from Covid-19. Nine persons were rounded up by police after registering an offence.
Hospital’s director Dr BK Murli and his staffer Shashank Upgade sustained injuries in the incident which occurred at around 3pm.
Senior PI Kishore Nagrale said a woman Covid patient died at the hospital at around 10.30am on Saturday. “Doctors from the hospital informed the NMC about the death. Soon, the NMC team came and shifted the body for cremation,” Nagrale said.
The woman’s kin, including her husband, visited the hospital and expressed anguish against the hospital administration. They also claimed that the hospital did not inform them about the death. Instead, they were demanding charges, family members claimed in a video which went viral in social media.
Later, they also ransacked the hospital’s reception and set it afire by pouring petrol, said the senior PI.
The members of Vidarbha Hospitals Association, who are forced to run Covid centres under unconstitutional capped regulated charges, are disturbed by such acts of violence wherein attempts to burn the hospital with all its patients and occupants were made.