Vasai-Virar hospital's probe papers on expired drugs missing, RTI reply says

The inquiry report and the action-taken report on expired medicines found at the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation's Sir D. M. Petit Hospital have gone missing from the administration's records. This came to light through a Right to Information (RTI) application. Social activist Kumar Kakade has made a serious allegation that the health department is trying to cover up a matter that plays with patients' lives.

The matter began in May 2026, when BJP corporators carried out a surprise inspection of the Petit Hospital and uncovered a large stock of expired medicines. It caused a major stir in the health sector at the time.

Kakade had filed an RTI application to find out what action was actually taken afterwards, what conclusions the committee reached and on whom it fixed responsibility.

Kakade says the reply from the Public Information Officer and Medical Health Officer, Dr Bhakti Chaudhari, is shocking. In an official letter, she wrote that no document relating to the inquiry report or action in the expired-medicines case is available in the record room of the medical health department.

The reply has raised questions: where the inquiry was actually held, whether records were destroyed to protect the guilty, and who in the corporation is backing corrupt officials.

Taking note of the matter, Kakade has submitted written complaints to the municipal commissioner, the mayor and the minister for Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He demands that criminal cases (FIRs) be registered immediately against the responsible health officials who played with patients' health and made government records disappear. Citizens of Vasai-Virar are watching what stand the commissioner takes and whether action is taken against senior officials in the drug scam.

The details of the earlier inquiry are also important in this case. The municipal commissioner had appointed a four-member committee headed by Additional Commissioner Deepak Sawant to probe the drug scam at the Petit Hospital. When the committee physically inspected the medicine store, the corporation's negligence had come to light.

The inspection found that medicines in use and expired medicines were kept haphazardly in the same place. The committee found 10 different types of medicines had expired. The committee's report stated that the medicine stock had not been properly classified, which caused the confusion. Dr Chaudhari's letter now says that the same report and the action papers cannot be found in the department's record room.