Anupama death: External probe panel too takes casual approach

Tall claims of the PGI Administration,at the time of her death,to bring out the facts to light,are belied if juxtaposed to the present scenario.

Sample this: The four-member internal inquiry committee which was constituted immediately after Anupama’s death with a deadline of 48 hours,gave a clean chit to PGI,denying any negligence or delay

in treatment and instead had blamed the overcrowding in the hospital as the reason for the unfortunate incident.

After media uproar and family members’ pressure,the PGI administration under acute pressure form all quarters agreed to constitute an external inquiry. Finally,an external probe committee was constituted on August 3 comprising Dr S S Gill,vice-chancellor of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences and a former head of the the Orthopedics Department,PGIMER,who is the chairman of the committee,Prof M C Mishra,head of the department of general surgery and chief of the Trauma Centre,AIIMS,New Delhi,Dr Rajiv Vadera,medical superintendent,Government Multi Specialty Hospital,Sector 16 (GMSH-16),Prof Y K Batra of the Department of Anesthesia,PGIMER,and Dr Vipin Kaushal,deputy medical superintendent,PGIMER,who is the convenor of the committee.

Interestingly,this time there was no set deadline for the committee members and understandably,even after holding four meetings,the external committee members are yet to hit any concrete stage in the probe.

When contacted,Manju Wadwalkar,official spokesperson of PGI,said,“There could be no deadline considering the fact that it has to be a thorough probe. Also,since three members are outsiders and are from other institutions,so the availability of all of them and convenience,has to be kept in mind.”

The parents Amit and Konika Sarkar have no hopes of justice and are oblivious to any developments in the matter. Says Amit Sarkar,Anupama’s father,“We have no idea of what is going on in the inquiry committee. We only get to know through newspapers that the meeting was held. We are hoping for the day to come when finally those responsible for our daughter’s death are brought to light. I will question them,why did they do this to my daughter?”

“She was our only reason to live. After all,those in the committee are doctors and the ones they are inquiring against are also doctors! So what hope can we have?” he asked trying to hold back his tears.

So far,the family of Anupama has only been called in once by the inquiry committee and at the meeting on Monday,for the first time after almost a month and a half,those doctors involved in her treatment were finally questioned.

Anupama,a student of Government Model School,Sector 18,died on July 25. She was admitted to the PGI on July 17 after her leg was crushed under the rear tyre of a CTU bus on her way back from the school.

On August 14 her parents had moved the UT Consumer Court against PGI,alleging negligence in administering timely treatment to Anupama and also against the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU).