Sion hospital dean shunted after video of dead bodies among Covid-19 patients surfaces

Mumbai, May 9

The video showing Covid-19 patients surrounded by dead bodies at the LTMG Sion Hospital has led to the removal of hospital Dean Pramod Ingle from his post, official sources said here on Saturday.

“Yes.. He has been transferred,” a top official of BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said, requesting anonymity.

The reins of the prestigious hospital — which is one of the major Covid-19 treatment facilities in the city — has been handed over to Ramesh Bharmal, former Dean of BYL Nair Hospital, who is likely to assume charge today.

The decision is said to have been taken late on Friday, reportedly based on the tentative findings of an enquiry into the incident when around half-a-dozen bodies were shown lying on beds around Covid-19 patients, allegedly in the Sion Hospital three days ago.

Following a massive furore over the macabre video expose, Mayor Kishori Pednekar had visited the hospital and ordered a probe into the lapses.

Late on Friday, the state government had transferred the BMC Commissioner Praveen Pardeshi and appointed senior IAS officer Iqbal Singh Chahal as the new chief of Asia’s biggest and India’s richest civic body.

The shake-ups came with Mumbai emerging as the worst Covid-19 hotspot notching a total of 462 deaths besides 12,142 patients, the highest in the country. IANS