‘Govt is carrying on with its asatya, our satyagraha must also go on’
Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) activist Medha Patkar has continued her indefinite hunger strike despite state government issuing an ultimatum in view of her deteriorating health. Speaking to
Patkar said that she will not break her fast until officials assure that they will rehabilitate those displaced by Sardar Sarovar Dam. and so our satyagraha must also go on. We have already made it clear that there should be no displacement without proper rehabilitation, which has also been endorsed by Supreme Court’s judgments since 2000. There are thousands of families who haven’t got their due. They cannot live without a source of livelihood on temporary rehabilitation. Which place is a safer than the community in which they are living? It is illegal to push them out into tin sheds or anywhere without a proper source of livelihood. How can they (the authorities) force the families to live the rest of their lives without ensuring quality of life?
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna, on Monday instructed its doctors to write prescriptions in capital letters, as mandated under the central government rules.
The inter-office-memo comes a month after a patient suffered a paralytic attack on being supplied wrong drugs by a chemist, ostensibly as he could not decipher the doctor’s handwriting on the prescription. HT had reported about it on August 4, prompting the AIIMS administration to take suitable action.
Confirming the issuance of the order, medical superintendent Dr Umesh Bhadani said, “We have reiterated the government order and our doctors have been told to write prescriptions in capital letters.”
Acting on the patient’s complaint to the director, the AIIMS had issued a show-cause notice to the chemist on July 15. It had allegedly overlooked the lapse on the physician’s part.
The Centre had amended the Indian Medical Council Regulations-2002 to ensure that prescriptions issued by doctors spell drugs under generic names in legible, upper case letters. In this case, the physician clearly didn’t follow the directive.
Juhi Rani, a 23 year old student pursuing her post-graduate degree in commerce, was prescribed a drug called Lumerax-80 at the medicine outdoor patient department (OPD) to cure her malarial symptoms on June 28.
However, as the writing on the prescription was not legible enough, a private drug store provided her with Luramax-80 — a drug meant to address psychiatric concerns — leading to severe medical complications.
In her complaint, Rani said she subsequently suffered a paralytic attack, and had to be admitted to a private hospital.
Incidentally, the mix-up was pointed out by a consultant at AIIMS when Rani returned to the institute’s medicine department for a follow-up.