Thane, Aug 17 (PTI) Maharashtra Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar on Thursday sought a 'white paper' on the condition of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital in Thane's Kalwa, which hit the headlines after 18 persons died in a 24-hour period on Saturday and Sunday.

Wadettiwar, who is the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, was speaking to reporters after visiting the sprawling facility and holding discussions with Thane Municipal Corporation additional commissioner (health services) Sandeep Malvi, medical superintendent Dr Aniruddha Malgaonkar and dean Dr Rakesh Barot.

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Blaming the civic body for the deaths, Wadettiwar said the kin of the deceased must be given Rs 10 lakh each as compensation.

More than 50 per cent of the permanent posts at the hospital are vacant, including that of cardiologist, neurosurgeon and oncologist, and critical patients are sometimes not visited by specialists even after 48 hours of admission, he alleged.

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Due to reasons best known to it, the TMC had refused to hand over the hospital to the Maharashtra government when such a request was made during the time Prithviraj Chavan was chief minister, Wadettiwar said.

He slammed the Eknath Shinde government and questioned how it planned to recruit doctors for hospitals in remote areas of the state in Vidarbha, Gadchiroli or Konkan when it is not able to do so at a facility in Thane near Mumbai.

"The situation is similar in primary health centres and rural hospitals in other parts of the state. The TMC spends thousands of crores in beautification and cleanliness but cannot spend Rs 500 crore to improve health infrastructure," he claimed.

Wadettiwar said his party would launch an agitation on the issues plaguing Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital in Kalwa.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)