Twenty four patients, including 12 children, died at a state-run hospital in Maharashtra’s Nanded within 24 hours on Saturday and Sunday, allegedly due to a shortage of medicines and medical help.

Of the 12 adults, four were suffering from heart ailments, two had kidney-related diseases and a 19-year-old had caught gangrene following a road accident, Dr SR Wakode, dean of Shankarrao Chavan Government Hospital, told Scroll. “Eight patients were aged between 70 and 80 years,” he said.

Among the paediatric cases, Wakode said, four were infants born prematurely. “One baby came with diaphragmatic hernia and one had respiratory distress,” he said.

Eight out of the 12 children were younger than three years of age.

Wakode said that the hospital receives patients from neighbouring districts of Parbhani, Hingoli, Yavatmal and parts of Telangana and saw many coming in with end-stage ailments in the last two days.

Wakode earlier told The Hindu that the recent transfer of staff members had led to a shortage in manpower at the hospital and had made managing a sudden surge in patients difficult.

He also said that the Haffkine Institute, responsible for procuring medicines for government hospitals across Maharashtra, had stopped the supply of the drugs, adding to their difficulties.

“We tried to manage and buy the medicines locally, but it was not enough,” Wakode told the newspaper. “Since this is the only major hospital in the radius of 60-70 km, we are under a severe load and our sanctioned budget is not enough to buy medicines locally.”

However, Director of the National Health Mission in Maharashtra Dheeraj Kumar told Scroll that the medical education department has not placed any demand for medicines with them. “We are not sure if medicine shortage is the cause behind these deaths,” Kumar said.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that he will seek more information about the deaths and appropriate action will be taken.

Former Chief Minister and Congress leader from Nanded Ashok Chavan visited the hospital on Monday and said that the situation is concerning. He claimed that while the hospital has 500 beds, some 1,200 patients are currently admitted there, PTI reported.

“It is natural that medical staff and doctors are overburdened due to such a large number of patients,” Chavan said. “I have suggested to the state government that they can take the help of private doctors. It is up to the state government to implement it or not.”

In August, 18 patients had died in 24 hours at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Memorial Hospital operated by the Thane Municipal Corporation in Kalwa, Maharashtra. Official had reportedly said that there had been a surge in the number of patients there due to the temporary shifting of Thane district hospital. Shinde had ordered a probe into the matter.