A mob allegedly stormed the intensive care unit of Colors Hospital in Nagpur’s Ajni area on Thursday, assaulting doctors and staff and damaging medical equipment after the death of a three-year-old girl, according to a police complaint and CCTV footage submitted to Dhantoli police station.
Hospital director and senior paediatrician Dr Vinod Gandhi lodged the complaint after he and other medical personnel were allegedly attacked. Senior police inspector Sainath Ramod told The Times of India that an FIR was being registered. The complaint names several hospital staff members as victims, including Dr Gandhi, 63, chief intensivist Dr Mahesh Turale, the medical superintendent, the woman medical superintendent, women paramedics and other employees.
According to doctors quoted in the report, the girl was brought to the hospital around noon with a feeble pulse and breathing difficulty. Doctors said she had been advised hospitalisation about 24 hours earlier on suspicion of dengue, but her relatives took her home and returned when her condition deteriorated. The child died after reaching the hospital, triggering allegations from relatives that doctors had not advised immediate admission.
The hospital administration rejected that account, saying it had digital records of the girl’s treatment and that she had been under the care of the same doctor for several years. The allegations have not been adjudicated, and the account of the medical treatment remains disputed between the relatives and the hospital.
The confrontation then moved into the ICU, a restricted area where other patients were receiving critical care. A doctor who witnessed the incident told The Times of India that relatives entered the unit after Dr Gandhi informed them about the death and began assaulting medical personnel. The report said ICU monitors were smashed, files and case papers were thrown around, and patients were left frightened during the disturbance.
The child’s parents allegedly removed her body from the hospital without obtaining permission or completing an autopsy. Hospital officials later said they could not receive the body after it had left the premises without consent, citing concerns about possible tampering in the absence of a postmortem examination. Relatives subsequently went to the police station seeking a death certificate and case papers and told police they could bring the body back to the hospital. The administration refused to issue the death certificate, according to the report.
Doctors reached Dhantoli police station at about 6 pm with a detailed complaint and CCTV footage, but the process continued until around 10.30 pm. All 16 hospital directors and several paediatricians remained at the station demanding action. Police officials attempted to facilitate a settlement, but the doctors declined to withdraw the complaint and insisted on registration of an FIR.
Dr Vasant Khalatkar, one of the hospital’s directors, told The Times of India that strict action was required and said violence could leave doctors working in fear after adverse outcomes or patient deaths. The incident is the latest in a reported series of attacks on healthcare workers in Nagpur and has placed renewed focus on security inside critical-care areas, where violence can endanger staff and patients beyond those directly involved in a dispute.
