Ballia CMS gives clean chit to docs

A three-member committee of the hospital doctors has also been constituted for inquiry. Asked whether this would not raise questions about the impartiality of the inquiry,CMS Dr Prabhakar Pandey said: “In such an event,another inquiry may be ordered. This inquiry is for a limited purpose and I am doing what I have asked to do.”

Dr Pandey said that he had also recommended registration of FIR against the rickshawpuller. However,Ballia Additional SP K C Goswami said: “Only one FIR has been registered in the case. I am not aware of any other complaint in this regard. In any case,the investigation is already on. Adding more FIRs will have little impact.”

An FIR of culpable homicide not amounting to murder has already been lodged on the basis of a complaint lodged by the child’s grandmother. The doctor on duty,the pharmacist and the rickshawpuller have been named in the FIR. The pharmacist,Shrikant,has been suspended.

“Preliminary inquiry has indicated that the rickshawpuller used to frequent the emergency area of the hospital and would fleece the gullible patients by bringing them injections and medicines,apparently at a commission,from the shops outside the hospital. He was also the man to whom the police would turn to for taking the body from the hospital to the mortuary.”

Dr Pandey further added that the doctor on duty has said that there was too much crowding in the emergency area and he was not even aware of the rickshawpuller’s presence. “The patient’s mother had already brought the injection,which was to be administered. The rickshawpuller was in habit of approaching people in the name of help for making some money on the sidelines. A detailed investigation will reveal the truth,” he said.

The rickshawpuller had also allegedly stabbed a ward boy,when the latter objected to his presence in the hospital several months ago. He was sent to jail and had returned to the same old ways after he was released,said Dr Pandey.

According to the CMS,the hospital was severely understaffed,as a result of which keeping a check on unwarranted activities of people like the rickshawpuller in question was not easy.

The hospital,which started with 176 beds,now has 326 beds. “But the sanctioned staff is as per the old requirements; many of them have retired also,” said Dr Pandey.

Ajay,son of Seema Devi,was brought to the hospital on Monday this week with septicemia (bacterial infection in blood that can fast lead to multiple organ failure). He was already referred to Varanasi,but his mother could not afford the cost. On Tuesday,she was asked to go to emergency and get a life-saving injection administered,which was allegedly done by the rickshawpuller,after which Ajay died.