Vijayawada: Police arrested three officials of Ramesh Hospitals here on Monday following the death of 10 Covid-19 patients in a fire mishap at a makeshift Covid care centre set up by the hospital in Swarna Palace Hotel.
The three accused were Dr Kodali Rajagopala Rao, chief operating officer, Dr Kurapathi Sudarsan, general manager and Pallabothu Venkatesh, coordinating manager for the Covid care centre.
Earlier, three special teams inspected Ramesh Hospitals and seized key documents and hard disks.
Assistant commissioner of police Suryachandra Rao said the special teams were carrying out inspection on all three branches of the hospital and added that based on a preliminary inquiry, the hospital was admitting more number of patients in violation of the norms and even charging them heavily.
Among three special teams, one team is carrying out inspection at Hotel Swarna Heights and Swarna Palace attached to Ramesh Hospitals and finding out about the treatment provided while another team is inquiring about the reasons for the short-circuit and the third team is finding out compliance with fire safety norms.
The police also carried out searches at the residence of Swarna Palace owner M. Srinivas and reportedly seized documents pertaining to the agreement with Ramesh Hospitals on setting up Covid care centres.
Meanwhile, a team of officials led by Krishna district joint collector Siva Sankar inspected Swarna Palace.
Later, the JC told that they were inquiring on three issues with one being whether Swarna Palace had all safety norms, whether Covid-19 protocols were followed while providing treatment and the cause of the fire mishap and whether the guidelines issued by the government were being followed.
He said that after taking up a thorough inquiry, they would submit a report to the District Collector
