The state government has ordered action against the city’s Medanta Abdur Razzaque Ansari Memorial Weavers’ Hospital for a case of alleged medical negligence in a kidney transplant.
Sunil Kumar Barnwal, principal secretary to the chief minister, ordered the action while hearing a public petition at the Mukhyamatri Jan Samvad Kendra, a public grievance redress system that runs at Suchana Bhawan on Meur’s Road under direct supervision of chief minister Raghubar Das.
“Action was taken after proper inquiry,” Barnwal said on Tuesday. “The hospital was given money from the chief minister’s fund, provided to a patients in case of critical illness. During the inquiry, we came to know that the hospital had refunded the money it had taken from the patient’s relatives but did not return the government money it spent for treatment.”
Asked what exactly the negligence was, he said: “Right now I don’t have specific details.”
The patient, Rajesh Kumar Paswan, is a resident of Bariatu in the city. The allegation was levelled by his wife after she came to know — while taking second opinion from specialists in Calcutta and New Delhi — that the reason behind the transplant failing was medical negligence, sources said.
During the hearing of the public petition, Paswan’s relatives alleged that the doctor who operated on Paswan was pressuring them to withdraw the FIR against him registered at Ormanjhi police station. Barnwal said criminal proceedings would be initiated against the doctor if he bothered the relatives.
Silli DSP Chandrashekhar Azad, who probed the case, said: “During investigation it came to the fore that the hospital did not filter the blood before the kidney transplant and the surgery failed. There was negligence in giving medicines also.”
Asked about the condition of Paswan, Azad said: “The patient is on dialysis.”
Medanta hospital spokesperson Javed Ansari said it was an “old case”.
“The patient left the hospital against medical advice a few days after the transplant. What happened after that is difficult to say. The matter was also reported to the SC/ST Commission and police. Several times the matter has been cleared but each time a new case is filed against the hospital,” Ansari said.
Barnwal on Tuesday heard 20 other petitions and gave appropriate directions to officials. He ordered action against an insurance company, Agriculture Insurance Company of India, while hearing a petition from Gumla on non-payment of crop insurance claim. While hearing a petition regarding delay in payment of accident insurance claim from Sahebganj, he directed action against the Allahabad Bank there through which the policy was sold. Hearing another petition from Ramgarh, he directed police officials to arrest a rape-accused, Ramashish Dubey.
