All clinics in Maha under scanner
Govt to start drive to identify dispensaries, nursing homes flouting laws
:Five days after Dr Babasaheb Khidrapure was arrested for dumping aborted foetuses in Mhaisal village in Sangli district, the government has planned a drive to identify dispensaries, nursing homes and diagnostic centres in the state that are violating the laws or are being run illegally.
The death of a woman, Swati Jamdade, revealed that Khidrapure was running a clinic, Bharati Hospital, in Sangli illegally. Although Khidrapure was a homeopath, his hospital had an operation theatre, where illegal abortions were carried out.
The drive to check violation of abortion and sonography laws will start from Sangli on Friday. As the probe points to a multistate racket, the authorities will also conduct a random inspection of 1,000 clinics in every state.
Those flouting the law will be served notices and their clinics will be sealed until they complete the formalities.
The decisions were taken at a meeting of local medical superintendents, district health officials, civil surgeon and officials from state health department on Thursday.
“Our motto is to check if any centre is being run in violation of the Bombay Nursing Home Act, Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act and Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act. The records of all such centres will be checked to see if they ever conducted any ultrasonic evaluation or abortion without following the guidelines,” said Dr SB Salunkhe, civil surgeon of Sangli Civil Hospital.
Officials from the directorate of health services said a fourmember committee has been formed to inspect the doctor’s houses, the term used by the department for all such clinics. The committee will have officials from the public health department, revenue department and a police official.
“While the health officer will check the medical records of the clinic and doctors, the revenue department will check if it has a licence. Police officials will help us track criminal offences, if any, committed by doctors or staff in the past,” said the official.
According to sources, around 1,500 clinics are functioning illegally on the Sangli-miraj road alone.
People from south Maharashtra and Karnataka come to Sangli-miraj for medical treatment, as it is cheaper compared to other major cities, said sources.
Dr Satish Pawar, director, DHS, said, “We will first focus on Sangli and neighbouring areas and later check other parts of the state. Offenders will not be spared.”
“Ten squads have been formed to cover rural, corporation and urban areas in the district. Two squads will handle the Sangli and Miraj Kupwad municipal corporation, where many such clinics have come up in the past few years,” said Dr Ram Hankare, health officer, Sangli district.
“We will ask them to complete the registration formality, until which the clinics will be sealed,” said Dr Hankare. The Sangli administration has set a deadline of 15 days to complete the drive.
Police investigation found that the district collector had received a complaint against Khidrapure’s hospital in 2016. The health department had failed to take action, despite an order issued by the health department.