Mirror Online | Updated: May 31, 2020, 18:55 IST

Senior Inspector Madhukar Kad of the Mumbra police station told Mirror Online on Sunday that an offence (case) has been registered against Bilal Hospital in Kausa, Prime Criticare in Kausa and Universal Hospital at Kadar Palace in Mumbra.

The hospitals have been booked under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant.case) along with the relevant provisions under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, Maharashtra Covid-19 Act and the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897. The case was registered following a complaint lodged by Mahesh Bhaurao Aher, who is an Assistant Municipal Commissioner of Mumbra/Kausa ward.

According to the complaint filed with police, Mehendi died in an auto-rickshaw on May 26 after she was denied admission in two hospitals – Bilal Hospital and Prime Criticare Hospital. However, her husband, Akbar, claims that they went to five hospitals, and all of them refused to admit her.

“We went to five hospitals, but every hospital had a reason or the other to refuse admission. For hours, we ran from one hospital to another, and Asma breathed her last in an auto outside Kalsekar Hospital in Mumbra,” said Akbar, adding that they want a stricter action against the hospitals.

“The hospital staff behaved inhumanely and spoke arrogantly. One of the hospitals even said that if they admitted her, it will spoil their night. Kalsekar was the last hospital we visited. The doctors there finally agreed to help her. However, it was already late,”Akbar said.

The video of her outside the hospital had gone viral on social media, after which TMC Commissioner Vijay Singhal on Saturday issued an order for registering an FIR against the hospitals which refused her admission.

The act of refusing admission to a patient is a clear violation of the Covid guidelines issued by the corporation, the order said.

“We are trying to trace the family members of the deceased woman and the other woman who were denied admission into the hospitals. We will record their statements to conduct detailed investigation,” Kad said.

According to the FIR, on May 25, 22-year-old Mehek Abal Khan, a resident of Bholenath Nagar had allegedly been denied admission by doctors and nurses at the Universal Hospital, located at Kadar Palace in Mumbra though she was pregnant and required immediate hospitalisation. The next day, 26-year-old Asma Akbar Mehdi, a resident of Thakurpada in Mumbra, approached the Bilal Hospital at Kausa as she was in labour pain. After she was denied admission on grounds that the hospital won’t admit anyone without a reason, she was taken to the Prime Criticare hospital in Kausa, where too she was reportedly denied admission. She breathed her last in an autorickshaw as she went from hospital to hospital hoping to get admitted.

Stating that the action of refusing admission to patients was a clear violation of the Covid guidelines issued by the Thane Municipal Corporation in relation to the treatment of patients, the complainant has demanded immediate action against the hospitals.

Meanwhile, Kad said that the hospital authorities will be questioned at a later stage after recording the statement of the victims’ family members. “They (hospitals) won’t be spared if they had actually refused admission to patients in need,” he said.