SC allows AP govt to begin probe against Ramesh Hospital for fire causing 10 deaths

The Supreme Court, on Monday, overturned the stay by the Andhra Pradesh High Court.
Fire accident at COVID19 care center
Fire accident at COVID19 care center
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The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Andhra Pradesh government to conduct a probe into the hospital fire that killed 10 COVID-19 patients in Vijayawada. The SC order overturned an earlier Andhra Pradesh High Court order that prohibited the state police from carrying out proceedings against the hospital for the fire accident that left 10 coronavirus patients dead.

A stay on the AP High Court order was issued by the SC bench headed by Justice Nariman while hearing the petition filed by the AP government. Mukul Rohatgi, the senior advocate representing the Andhra Pradesh government contended that it was not appropriate to curb investigation into the fire accident. 

The AP High Court had earlier stayed proceedings against Ramesh Hospitals Managing Director Ramesh Babu and Chairman Seeta Rama Rao. The lawyer told SC the 10 coronavirus patients lost their lives due to the negligence by Ramesh hospital.

Mukul also informed the court that the Ramesh hospital was uncooperative with the investigation. The SC while ruling that Ramesh hospital has to cooperate with the investigation however stated that the HC can decide on the arrest of Dr Ramesh based on the evidence presented before the court. DR Ramhesh the owner of the hospital has been absconding since the fire accident on August 9 that left 10 coronavirus patients dead in Vijayawada.

The hospital was running a COVID-19 care centre at Hotel Swarna Palace in Vijayawada and was blamed for the fire tragedy.

The High Court had questioned the role of Collector, Sub Collector, District Medical and Health Officer in the incident. The court had also observed that the government officials should also be held accountable as it was the district authorities who granted permission to the hospital to use the centre for treatment, according to reports.

After the fire tragedy, it was found that the facility taken on a lease by Ramesh Hospitals did not have any fire safety in place.

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