State action after Nanded hospital deaths: Local authorities empowered to use 100% fund from dist planning panel to buy medicines
Faced with criticism over the lack of availability of medicines in Nanded’s government medical college in the wake of deaths of 41 patients, including newborns, the Maharashtra government on Thursday extended powers to the local authority to use 100% funds from district planning development committee (DPDC) reserved for buying medicines.
A delay in implementing the recently passed Medical Goods Procurement Authority Act and the resultant change in procurement rules are to blame for the medicine shortage across government hospitals in the state. The government decision comes even as the government and hospital administration continue to deny there was shortage of medicine, and that it was the cause of death of patients in Nanded hospital between October 1 and 2. Read more
Artist Chintan Upadhyay held guilty in wife’s murder case: Dedicated police teams on watch for 8 yrs but key accused still on the run
A Mumbai sessions court on Thursday held artist Chintan Upadhyay guilty on charges of abetting and conspiring the murder of his estranged wife, Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Harish Bhambhani in 2015.
However, another key accused in the double murder case, Vidyadhar Rajbhar, has been absconding for eight years despite Mumbai Crime Branch making at least a dozen trips across the country and keeping close watch on the movement of his family in Mumbai, in anticipation that he may contact them.
On December 12, 2015, the bodies of renowned artist Hema Upadhyaya (43) and her lawyer Harish Bhambani (65) were found in a drain in Kandivali in suburban Mumbai. They were appeared to have been killed the previous day. Hema’s former husband Chintan — a celebrated contemporary artist, was arrested along with three others.
