Pritha Chatterjee: Indian Express; Tue Mar 15 2011,
New Delhi : In a shocking act of negligence, the Delhi government’s Health department has misplaced a file of the probe into the case involving the death of a 74-year-old patient admitted to the ICU of GB Pant Hospital in October 2009, an RTI reply has revealed.
The patient, Sharda Gaur, was admitted in the coronary care unit of the ICU after an angioplasty. When an hour-long power failure at the hospital which did not have power backup even for the ICU cut off her ventilator support, doctors had tried to keep her alive through manual support, but she died struggling for breath.
Following widespread outrage, then Health minister Kiran Walia had constituted a three-member inquiry team, assuring of results within a week. After an RTI query was filed by Gaur’s son-in-law Raaj Mangal Prasad in March 2010 seeking the status of the inquiry, the Health department finally provided a response on December 13. The reply stated that “the relevant file is not traceable in various branches of the Health and Family Welfare (H&FW)department, despite of best efforts”.
The reply too was filed only upon a directive issued by the Central Information Commission (CIC), after the family underwent a long battle with the Health department’s information dispensing mechanism. The first reply provided by the PIO of GB Pant Hospital on May 20 stated that the special committee had “submitted its confidential report to the Principal Secretary, H&FW” and further action would be taken by the NCT government.
The applicant’s first appeal, citing ‘unsatisfactory reply’, was dismissed by the hospital’s medical superintendent, the First Appellate Authority. A second appeal was then filed before the CIC on August 12 last year. The CIC order, filed on September 30, announced that the appeal was valid and issued a showcause notice against the PIO, directing him to “immediately transfer the RTI application”. The applicant, however, had to send another complaint to the CIC two months later before the Health department’s response came through.
When contacted, new Health minister A K Walia promised to inquire into the matter. “I am not aware of the case. But I will look into the matter immediately.”
Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi said the matter warranted an FIR. “If the department has given in writing that the file is not traceable, the applicant should produce it in writing before us and we can take action. My first response in such cases is to file an FIR.” Incidentally the applicant had also written to then Health minister Kiran Walia on December 29 last year, requesting that an FIR be registered.
The victim’s son Harish Gaur said: “I watched my mother die with my own eyes. The latest reply by the department proves the severity of the negligence on the part of government hospitals.”
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