15 Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi workers arrested for vandalising private hospital & threatening staff in Sangli
Kolhapur: A group of roughly 15 people associated with the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi forcibly entered a private hospital in Sangli, and vandalised the property and assaulted staff members on Monday.
The Sangli police have filed charges against the vandals and have arrested them.
Aaditya Hospital, the medical facility that was targeted, is run by surgeon Sharad Sawant.
The VBA workers claimed the hospital was charging fees from economically weak patients while simultaneously receiving govt compensation through the Mahatma Phule Jan Arogya Yojana. They also accused the hospital of providing substandard treatment to patients under the govt scheme.
Sawant, however, rejected these accusations, claiming that certain local elements were attempting to force the hospital's closure. "We never charge a penny from the poor patients. There is a rule to initiate treatment or surgery only after approval from the govt machinery. There have been times when we did not wait for the approvals, given the condition of the patients. We challenge those accusing us to present the facts with documents, and we will also present the facts if they have any doubts.
Vandalism, attacking the staff, and threatening us is not the way," said Sawant.
Sawant alerted police when the vandalism commenced. Police intervened and detained the vandals. "We have arrested 15 people associated with a political party. We have invoked sections 3 and 4 of the Maharashtra Medicare Service Persons and Medicare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage or Loss to Property) Act, 2010," said inspector Sudhir Bhalerao, of the Vishrambaug police station.
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