CMO death: Family Welfare,Health Ministers quit

Simultaneously,the government removed Pradip Shukla,Principal Secretary of Family Welfare,and Lucknow’s CMO of Health A K Shukla.

The government also abolished the system of having two CMOs in districts,one for family welfare and the other for health,which was created in May last year amidst opposition from doctors,and went back to the old system of having one CMO in charge of all health functions.

Dr Singh was the second CMO of family welfare to be shot dead; his predecessor Dr Vinod Arya was shot dead in October last year. Both were shot by motorcycle-borne assailants while on a morning walk in a similar fashion. While the police claims to have made some arrests for Dr Arya’s murder,no one has been arrested for Dr Singh’s murder.

There have been allegations of a political angle to the two murders for influencing tenders and contracts and opposition parties have demanded a CBI inquiry. The family of Dr Singh and the association of government doctors have also demanded a CBI inquiry.

Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekar said that investigation into Dr Singh’s murder was progressing well.

He said a clerk of the Medical and Health Department Sanjay Anand had been arrested for irregularities and the government had put him under suspension. On Wednesday,Deputy CMO Y S Sachan,administrative officer Chandrajeet Yadav,and senior clerk Prem chandra Verma were arrested and an FIR was lodged against them for financial irregulatries.

The Cabinet Secretary said Dr Singh had undertaken measures to improve the functioning of his department and this was not liked by those who wanted to loot government money.

He said during the police probe into the murder of the two CMOs,serious irregularities had been found in the payments made for vehicles which were hired by various hospitals for the implementation of NRHM schemes,and fake payments were made for vehicles which were never hired. He also spoke of irregularities in the purchase of medicines.

Moreover,surplus manpower had been shown in the work order and subsequently payments.