Tollywood actor Ram Pothineni has alleged that there is a “huge conspiracy” in the investigation of the fire accident at a COVID Care Centre in Vijayawada which took place on August 9. The centre was being run at Hotel Swarna Palace by Ramesh Hospitals, which was providing the medical services. Police have said that the Managing Director of Ramesh Hospitals, Ramesh Babu Pothineni, is still absconding.
Commenting on the investigation on Twitter, Ram alleged that Hotel Swarna Palace was initially listed as a quarantine centre by the government, and it was later converted into a COVID Care Centre by Ramesh Hospitals.
“HAD THIS FIRE ACCIDENT TAKEN PLACE 3 weeks earlier when it was RUN by the GOVERNMENT, WHO WOULD THEY BLAME?.” he wrote.
SWARNA PALACE was a QUARANTINE CENTRE run by the GOVERNMENT until RAMESH HOSPITAL took permission to convert it into a Covid Care Centre when REQUESTED by the GOVERNMENT!
— RAm POthineni (@ramsayz) August 15, 2020
HAD THIS FIRE ACCIDENT TAKEN PLACE 3 weeks earlier when it was RUN by the GOVERNMENT, WHO WOULD THEY BLAME? pic.twitter.com/ISzT0GFf8k
Ram also alleged that the issue was being diverted from the fire accident to the collection of high fees from patients. Claiming that the hotel was responsible for the billing and not the hospital management, he wrote that doctors were not responsible for fire safety.
FIRE + FEES = FOOLS
— RAm POthineni (@ramsayz) August 15, 2020
DIVERTING the issue from FIRE to FEES .... only to FOOL all of us?
FEES Clarification: the Billing was done DIRECTLY by SWARNA PALACE HOTEL as they were RESPONSIBLE for the MANAGEMENT!
DOCTORS are NOT RESPONSIBLE for the FIRE safety!#APisWatching pic.twitter.com/3YYokUhxyQ
Alleging a conspiracy in the investigation and addressing Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, he wrote, “I doubt there’s a HUGE CONSPIRACY to show the CM of AP in bad light.I request @ysjagan garu to look into it as a few people under him might be doing this without his knowledge.This is causing huge damage to his reputation & Honest approach,amongst all of us!”
I doubt there’s a HUGE CONSPIRACY to show the CM of AP in bad light.I request @ysjagan garu to look into it as a few people under him might be doing this without his knowledge.This is causing huge damage to his reputation & Honest approach,amongst all of us!
— RAm POthineni (@ramsayz) August 15, 2020
#APisWatching
Recently, Krishna District Collector Mohammed Imtiaz had revoked the recognition given to Ramesh Hospitals to treat COVID-19 patients. The reasons cited included lack of safety precautions at the COVID Care Centre, as well as charging of exorbitant fees exceeding government price cap.
Krishna District Medical and Health Officer (DMHO) has also issued a notice to the MD Ramesh Babu Pothineni to appear in person on August 30 and give an answer in writing to the charges laid on the management, and to surrender the hospital’s certificate of registration and other documents. The charges mentioned in the DMHO’s notice included not displaying the rates charged for various services by the hospital at their reception counter, collection of exorbitant fees, and admitting COVID-19 patients to Metropolitan Hotel and M5 Hotel without permission from district authorities.
In response to Ram’s comments, Vijayawada South Zone ACP (Assistant Commissioner of Police) Surya Chandra Rao told the media that Ram does not seem to have complete knowledge over the issue. “He is saying it was a quarantine centre run by the government which the hospital took over. Quarantine is different from COVID Care Centre. If he (Ram) knows something, if he produces evidence, we will inquire him as well and take any valid documents into consideration,” the ACP said, adding that if anyone interferes with the investigation, action will be taken against them.
Ten people were killed in the deadly fire accident which took place at Hotel Swarna Palace in the early morning hours of August 9. Thirty patients and nearly 13 staff members were present inside at the time of the incident.