Drug racket: Nurses threaten protests

Superintendent Dr I Saran and Director Dr Shobhnath on Thursday,demanding that a fair probe be carried out before naming Mishra in the case.

“If need be,we’ll protest against the decision and also meet the government officials in this regard,” said M J Malik,secretary of the Association. “It is not a staff nurse’s job to maintain the registers. She was performing double duty. Had Kumudini refused to do the double duty,she would have been safe today,” she added.

Mishra herself pleaded innocence. “Nobody has questioned me till date and I have still not received any suspension orders from the government. I was not even asked before the committee broke in my stock room,” she said. Her records were in order and if authorities bothered to check it,they would take back their charge against her,she claimed.

So far,the hospital and police have not been able to trace Dr Singh and begin with their investigation.

“A 10-member team has been given the charge of investigating the matter by the government,” said Dr I Saran,CMS,Balrampur Hospital. “It will start soon,” he said.

“In the preliminary probe,the administration suspected Dr Singh as he was absconding. Some of the medicines were missing from Mishra’s stock. Mishra’s register was not updated and she was absent,” Saran said.

The seized medicines,meanwhile,were matched and four of these were found matching with the stock. A police team has reached Balrampur Hospital for a detailed report from the hospital administration.

Blood banks raided across state,1 sealed
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sealed one blood bank and cancelled the registration of another on Thursday. This comes after it inspected 11 blood banks and six drug stores across the state.

One blood bank each in Allahabad,Ghaziabad,Saharanpur,Varanasi and Agra and two each in Noida,Meerut and Kanpur were raided. While one blood bank was sealed in Agra,registration of a blood bank in Varanasi was cancelled.

In Lucknow,while Charakh Blood Bank was found closed when a team visited it for inspection,Kohli Blood Bank in Chowk and Shiv Bio Medical were served showcause notices.

Medical and Health Minister A K Mishra,meanwhile,ordered increase in the number of vehicles for FDA and asked the officials to tour at least 20 days in a month to keep a tab on the illegal drug business in the state.

On Wednesday,Indira Diagnostic Centre and Kohli Blood Bank in Lucknow were served with showcause notices for not following standard practices for cosmetics and blood storage.