The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken note of the failure of officials of the Jharkhand government and the MGM Medical College and Hospital to file an action taken report on the allegation of medical negligence of silicosis-affected patients in Jamshedpur.

The NHRC on Friday asked the Jharkhand health secretary, East Singbhum district magistrate, the Jharkhand labour commissioner and the medical superintendent of the MGM Medical College and Hospital in Jamshedpur to submit the report within four weeks.

The letter said that if the report was not submitted, “the commission shall be constrained to invoke its coercive power under Section 13 of the Protection of the Human Rights (PHR) Act 1993, calling for the personal appearance of the authority concerned before the commission”.

It directed the medical superintendent of the MGM Medical College and Hospital to ensure proper medical treatment of the purported silicosis patients, Jagannath Pator and Kunal Kumar Singh.

The NHRC had on June 26 directed the Jharkhand chief secretary and the state health department, among others, to file the action taken report over allegations of denial of proper medical treatment to the silicosis-affected workers in East Singhbhum district.

The directive had been issued by the NHRC on the basis of a complaint filed by Samir Kumar Carr, the general secretary of the NGO Occupational Safety and Health Association of Jharkhand (OSHAJ), on the denial of proper medical treatment to Jagannath Pator and Kunal Kumar Singh.

They are stated to be among the silicosis-affected workers from Dhalbhumgarh block of East Singhbhum district.

The complainant had alleged fudging of medical records by the doctors of
the government medical college to project the victims as patients of pneumoconiosis/pulmonary kochs/ occupational lung disease rather than silicosis.

The complaint alleged unwillingness on the part of doctors at Rajendra Institute of Medical Science (RIMS, Ranchi) to prescribe silicosis as the disease despite
evidence to that effect so as to deny them and others the benefits of the relief and
rehabilitation policy of silicosis by the Jharkhand government.

The complainant further alleged that the relief and rehabilitation policy, which has been formulated by the Jharkhand government, for the silicosis-affected workers and their families was not on a par with that of Haryana’s model.

The NGO official had given details of other silicosis-affected patients/victims who had been denied the benefits of relief by the district administration and sought the intervention of the NHRC.

This had prompted the NHRC to ask the chief secretary, the principal health secretary, the secretary of the Jharkhand Human Rights Commission and the East Singhbhum district magistrate for the action taken report within four weeks from the issuance of the directive.

Two Maoists arrested

Two Maoists were arrested with Rs 5 lakh cash in Jharkhand’s Palamu district on Sunday, police said.

The two were arrested from the Chhatarpur area, around 215 km from state capital Ranchi.

Chattarpur sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Ajay Kumar said that the two Maoists were caught when they were going to deliver Rs 5 lakh to their self-proclaimed ‘commander’ Nitish Yadav after collecting extortion money from the area.

Nitish carries a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh on his head, Kumar said.