The Indian Medical Association, the umbrella body of medical practitioners in the country, will fund the legal fight of a woman doctor who was arrested after the Ahmednagar Civil Hospital fire that killed 14 Covid-19 patients in the ICU. Stressing that doctors and nurses at the hospital were made scapegoats, IMA said it would provide all possible support to ensure justice for them and set an example.

It was illogical and a knee jerk reaction to arrest Dr Vishakha Shinde. She is a post-graduate student and by holding her responsible for the fire, the government has only tried to find a scapegoat,” said Dr Mangesh Pate, national treasurer-Hospital Board of India, IMA. Dr Pate and Dr Sheikh Nisar, another IMA member, met Dr Shinde’s family recently.