A month after they came to the city the team of doctors and nurses from Kerala, who had volunteered to assist at SevenHills Hospital in Mumbai amid the COVID-19, are returning home, a month before their decided tenure, allegedly because of differences over their role in managing the pandemic.

The move has come as a surprise when the pandemic is on the rise in Mumbai and the already overburdened healthcare system is going through tough times. Senior officials from the state, however, chose to sidestep from the issue. Highly placed sources within the team of medical practitioners told mid-day, "Three postgraduate students from the team left for Kerala two days ago and team leader Dr Santosh Kumar will leave on July 5. The remaining doctors will leave on July 15, followed by the handful of nurses."