The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to the State Chief Secretary asking why a compensation of Rs 3 lakh not be paid to the family of a deceased child, who lost his life due to the negligence of a hospital staff in Angul.
The NHRC has directed the Chief Secretary to submit a reply within four weeks. Earlier, civil society organisation Human Rights Watch secretary Sangita Swain had filed a petition on March 7, 2016 alleging that a woman Geeta Pradhan had given birth to a stillborn child at the Angul District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) because of negligence of the doctors. Taking cognisance of Swain’s petition, the commission called for a report from the Health and Family Welfare secretary. In response, the Health and Family Welfare submitted a report. After considering the report, the NHRC directed the Health Secretary to send a further report as to whether any monetary relief was given to the victim and the status of the departmental action initiated against the erring officials, within six weeks.