Of the 91 people who were brought to Kandivali`s Shatabdi Hospital on Friday after they drank contaminated liquor, 26 died during treatment owing to the lack of qualified medical professionals. The 320-bed BMC-run facility, which was built at a cost of Rs 110 crore, does not employ a single nephrologist to oversee dialysis, a procedure that the victims desperately needed. Of those that were transported to Shatabdi, 11 were declared dead on arrival.

While 26 died during treatment; 24 were shifted to KEM Hospital, Sion Hospital and Nair Hospital so they could receive dialysis; three to Siddharth Hospital in Goregaon; 10 to private facilities; and 17 remained in Shatabdi, of which nine are tethered to ventilators. The Kandivali hospital was constructed with the purpose of easing the burden on KEM, Sion and Nair hospitals. "We have eight dialysis machines which we run through a public-private partnership.

However we can only take the chronic patients for treatment and not emergency cases," said Mahendra Wadiawala, chief superintendent of peripheral hospitals. The hospital cannot admit such patients because it does not have a functioning nephrology department. "This procedure can only be done by a proper nephrology team," said Dr Krishna Pimple medical superintendent of Shatabdi Hospital.

All patients are suspected to have suffered methanol poisoning. Dr Pratit Samdani, who practices in several private hospitals said that a patient develops metabolic acidosis - a condition where the body produces excessive quantities of acid and the kidneys fail to remove these from the body. "While dialysis would be the most essential step, these patients also need ventilators as they develop respiratory issues and may even develop cardiac and neurological problems," he explained.

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News Source: http://www.mumbaimirror.com/mumbai/civic/Shatabdi-Hospital-lacks-dialysis-team-26-die-on-their-beds/articleshow/47741703.cms