Cong FIR charges Jharkhand CM with ‘culpable homicide’
Accuses officials of hiding evidence of negligence
RANCHI: The opposition Congress on Monday laid charges of “culpable homicide” against Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das, health minister Ramchandra Chandravanshi, and four officials over the alleged deaths of at least 52 infants in the past month at a government-run hospital in the state.
Former MP and Congress spokesperson Ajoy Kumar in a complaint lodged with a police station in Jamshedpur accused Das, Chandravanshi, and four health department officials of deliberately trying to “hide evidences of gross negligence” that led to the demise of the children at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College Hospital (MGMMCH) in the steel city.
The four officials named are health secretary Sudhir Tripathy, principal of MGMMCH Dr AC Akhouri, superintendent of hospital Dr Bhartendu Bhushan, and East Singhbhum district civil surgeon Dr KC Munda.
The MGMMCH is a premier health institute of the state, which also caters to patients from West Bengal and Odisha. As per government data, around 2,900 children up to 12 years were admitted to the hospital from January to July 2017.
Questions were raised over the healthcare facilities in the institute after a survey conducted by Jharkhand Human Rights Conference (JHRC) found that 223 children died in the hospital in the last six months.
“A high level inquiry into the cause of children’s death is required,” said JHRC president Manoj Mishra . “Doctors and officials responsible for the deaths of innocent children should be put behind bars and government should give due compensation to the bereaved families,” he added.
The Congress finds a major weapon in the JHRC report to target the state’s BJP government. Congress spokesperson alleged that the CM and others named by him embezzled crores of tax payers’ money by purchasing substandard machines and equipment meant for treatment of infants. The machines are lying unutilised on the hospital campus, he added.
He claimed that during an inspection of the hospital they found that a modular operation built at ₹1.5 crore and a lifesaving machine worth ₹36 lakh were defunct. The police complaint, a copy of which is with HT, says parents of deceased were never given correct information about the nature of their children’s illness and cause of their death.