Private hospital in Agra hid crucial information, caused spread of coronavirus, claim police; institution says it acted in 'humanitarian' manner

Till 18 April, 241 cases of novel coronavirus have been reported in Agra, and the district presently accounts for the most number of cases in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Local authorities have placed much of the blame on a private hospital, Shri Paras Hospital, alleging that it concealed crucial information. The Agra Police have registered a case against the management of the Shri Paras Hospital for not revealing the actual number of patients and staff after a woman undergoing treatment there later tested positive for coronavirus. The hospital’s secretary Shiv Pratap Yadav strongly denied the police’s allegations. According to him, the woman was admitted to the hospital on 25 March due to a kidney-related ailment. Yadav said, “The woman stayed in the hospital till 2 April, but she didn’t get any better. So, we referred her to Delhi. But she went to a hospital in Mathura instead, and later tested positive for coronavirus. How were we to know that a kidney patient would test positive for coronavirus?” [caption id=“attachment_8268911” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AP[/caption] The woman tested positive for coronavirus at Mathura’s Nayati Hospital. Umesh Singh Tripathi, Station House Officer of New Agra police station, said, “We filed the FIR because the hospital hid a lot of information from us. They hid the actual number of patients, attendants and staff members in the hospital, which were crucial details. While the hospital claimed that there were only 110 people in the building at the time, we found more than 200 people.” The FIR has been filed against Arinjay Jain and SP Yadav, the owner and manager of the Shri Paras Hospital respectively. The police have invoked Sections 188, 269, 270 and 271 of India Penal Code (IPC) in the FIR. They deal with disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant, negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life, malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life and disobedience to quarantine rule. The local administration subsequently declared the hospital a hotspot, and sealed it on the night of 6 April. According to Agra district magistrate Prabhu N Singh, the hospital’s negligence is a major reason for the spread of coronavirus in the district. However, Shiv Pratap Yadav said, “The Shri Paras Hospital is a large hospital, with 80 beds. After the lockdown was announced, we only admitted patients who were in urgent need, such as diabetic patients. Due to these humanitarian concerns, we had to remain open, and we did just that.” The first case of the novel coronavirus was confirmed in Uttar Pradesh on 5 March in Ghaziabad. Till 19 April, the state has reported 1,084 COVID-19 cases and 17 deaths.