Manipur: Govt doctor booked for fleeing COVID-19 quarantine centre

Ayub is among the staff of a private hospital put under quarantine for 14 days after a patient from Lilong tested positive for coronavirus here. The staffers were kept at the same hospital, in Imphal East district, by converting it into a quarantine centre. However, on Monday, Ayub went missing from here.

Fearing that he may infect the general public, Director of Health Services K Rajo Singh intimated the SP of Imphal East. Ayub was later picked up by the police from his residence in the evening.

The doctor was charged under sections 188/269/270/271 of the IPC for violating quarantine rules, among others. It was found that despite being a government doctor, Ayub had been working in the private hospital under a false identity of Dr SM Ayub.

The department has now served a show-cause notice to the doctor for violating professional norms set by the government. The private hospital, too, has received a notice for “false practice” by engaging a government employee under Manipur Nursing Home and Clinical Registration Act, 1992.

Manipur Health Minister L Jayantakmuar said that the doctor could face serious consequences beyond suspension, due to the rules he had violated. The private hospital may also face deregistration, he added.