Pune: Lifeline Hospitals, the agency which was earlier awarded the contract to run the jumbo COVID hospital at College of Engineering Pune (COEP) grounds at Shivajinagar, is now on radar of Pune police over the matter of a 33-year-old woman – identified as Priya Gaikwad – gone missing from the facility after she was admitted there for Covid-19 treatment.
The woman’s mother has filed a missing complaint with the Pune police in this case. A month after her disappearance, the Pune police and the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) authorities are still grappling to unearth the records of the woman’s admission to the facility, the treatment provided to her and her whereabouts after she was discharged from the jumbo hospital.
The PMC has written a letter on August 29 to the agency, Lifeline Hospitals, to furnish all the information related to this case. But the agency has not yet responded. Hence PMC officials have approached Pune police to conduct an inquiry into this matter as the incident has allegedly taken place when the Lifeline Hospitals agency was in charge of the management at the jumbo hospital.
Rubal Agrawal, Additional Commissioner of PMC told media persons, “We have sought information about the missing woman from Lifeline Hospitals. We have discussed this matter with senior police officials and we will cooperate with the investigating agency in all possible ways.”
Meanwhile, Ragini Surendra Gamare, mother of Priya Gaikwad has started an indefinite fast protest at the COEP jumbo hospital facility site. Rahul Dambale, youth leader of the Republican Yuva Morcha, has also participated in this protest.
Ragini Gamare said, “Priya was admitted to the jumbo hospital facility through an ambulance from the Sassoon General Hospital. The then management at the jumbo hospital had said that she was under treatment at the jumbo facility. But when we asked about her discharge from the hospital after her recovery, we were told that she was not admitted in the jumbo hospital. All government agencies are now trying to put blame on each other, but we want justice in this case.”