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Jitender once ran his own clinic, treated patients in the village

Jitender is a second generation RMP; his father Dal Chand was granted a RMP license over a decade ago.

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On Thursday evening, Jitender — who lost both his children when his house in Faridabad district’s Sunpedh village was set on fire on Tuesday — was taken to a local district hospital. The local doctor had recommended that he should be hospitalised as he was suffering from dehydration and high levels of stress.

Days before his house was set on fire, it was Jitender, a Recognised Medical Practitioner (RMP), who was treating patients at his polyclinic. He recommended medicines for his patients and also conducted vaccinations, said a local pharmacist.

Jitender is a second generation RMP; his father Dal Chand was granted a RMP license over a decade ago.

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“His father ran the clinic for years. Later Jitender took over,” said Vijender, a resident.

The small polyclinic is located behind Zenith Hospital, one of the district’s biggest hospitals, off the busy Mohana Road.

In October 2014, Jitender’s two brothers were arrested for allegedly murdering three boys from the Thakur community. Jitender soon left the village, and the clinic remained shut after that.

The clinic was later given on rent to a local doctor, said a pharmacist.

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About three months ago, Jitender returned to the village and decided to run the clinic in collaboration with the doctor. “Both of them ran it together,” said the pharmacist.

Kaunain Sheriff M is an award-winning investigative journalist and the National Health Editor at The Indian Express. He is the author of Johnson & Johnson Files: The Indian Secrets of a Global Giant, an investigation into one of the world’s most powerful pharmaceutical companies. With over a decade of experience, Kaunain brings deep expertise in three areas of investigative journalism: law, health, and data. He currently leads The Indian Express newsroom’s in-depth coverage of health. His work has earned some of the most prestigious honours in journalism, including the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Award, and the Mumbai Press Club’s Red Ink Award. Kaunain has also collaborated on major global investigations. He was part of the Implant Files project with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which exposed malpractices in the medical device industry across the world. He also contributed to an international investigation that uncovered how a Chinese big-data firm was monitoring thousands of prominent Indian individuals and institutions in real time. Over the years, he has reported on several high-profile criminal trials, including the Hashimpura massacre, the 2G spectrum scam, and the coal block allocation case. Within The Indian Express, he has been honoured three times with the Indian Express Excellence Award for his investigations—on the anti-Sikh riots, the Vyapam exam scam, and the abuse of the National Security Act in Uttar Pradesh. ... Read More

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