Don’t miss the latest developments in business and finance.

Farrukhabad hospital deaths: No action to be taken on FIR,

Image
Press Trust of India Lucknow
Last Updated : Sep 04 2017 | 7:22 PM IST
The UP government today said no action would be initiated on the basis of an FIR lodged against the CMO and the CMS of Farrukhabad district hospital in the case related to deaths of 49 infants in a month there.
The FIR was registered last night in Farrukhabad, about 180 km from the state capital.
"The way things have been presented is not that has happened. No action is, therefore, being initiated on the basis of the FIR registered against the CMO and the CMS," Principal Secretary (Health) Prashant Trivedi told reporters.
"For us it is a report. We will examine it for further action," he said at a hurriedly convened press briefing here.
The state government today removed District Magistrate Ravindra Kumar as well as Chief Medical Officer Umakant Pandey and Chief Medical Superintendent Akhilesh Agarwal.
To a question on the removal of the CMO and the CMS, Trivedi said, "They have been removed for the simple reason that the DM is the head of administration in a district and they should have co-ordinated with the DM."

More From This Section

"If there were any issues, then the same should had been brought to the notice of the administration. What happened actually--medically or technically--will be clear in probe," he said.
On whether the deaths were due to lack of oxygen, he said, "Oxygen is not an issue in the entire episode. I think, of late, we are generating undue sensitivity to oxygen. It has become more of a buzzword."
Trivedi said no official can find the views of a person over telephone and it was not the right way to conduct a magisterial probe. He was referring to the city magistrate contacting the parents and relatives of infants who had died over telephone.
Principal secretary (Information) Awanish Awasthi, who was also present, said, "Everything will be brought out... There seems to be some co-ordination issue among the officers."
He said the DG Health will send a specialised team to investigate and added "no death took place due to lack of oxygen. The matter should not be blown out of proportion".
On the FIR, he said it was lodged and "it very clearly seems to have been lodged when the DM, it seems, did not get the report from the health department..."
The FIR was lodged against CMO, CMS and other doctors but only posts were mentioned and there were no names in the FIR.
It was lodged by the city magistrate last night under IPC sections 176 (legal provisions regarding inquiry by magistrate into cause of death), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 304 (culpable homicide).

Also Read

First Published: Sep 04 2017 | 7:22 PM IST

Next Story