The snail’s pace at which the enquiry on alleged negligence of Max Hospital is progressing has again exposed health department’s weak knees when it comes to dealing with influential commercial institutions like this hospital.
The inquiry that was supposed to get completed in ten days is underway for almost three and half months and it is learnt the inquiry committee is all set to give a clean chit to the Max Hospital.
A furor was created when high profile officer and Additional Garhwal Commissioner, Harak Singh Rawat held a Press conference and charged that Max Hospital which braces itself as most premier super specialty hospital of the region showed utter callousness while treating injured knee of his son Rahul Rawat who also developed an infection after operation. His wife Bhagirathi Rawat, later lodged an FIR against two doctors of the hospital following which the police sought a report from the Dehradun chief medical officer (CMO). The then CMO of Dehradun, Dr Y S Thapliyal then ordered an inquiry and set a deadline of ten days.
The inquiry committee consisting of Dr K C Pant (Physician), Dr R K Tamta (Surgeon), Dr Chetan Giroti and Dr S K Gupta both Orthopedic surgeons and Dr Pankaj Sharma (Anaesthetist) started its work initially and had questioned the doctors and complainants but later the pace of inquiry slowed down considerably. later on the request of the inquiry committee one Microbiologist Dr Yogendra Singh of Doon Medical College and one orthopedic surgeon of AIIMS Rishikesh was also added to the team.
When contacted, the head of inquiry team Dr K C Pant told The Pioneer said that the process of compilation of reports of various specialists is currently under progress and the final report would be submitted soon. The CMO of Dehradun Dr T C Pant said that two reminders have been served to the inquiry committee and a third one is also being sent.
The Vice President Operations of Max hospital Dr Sandip Singh Tanwar said that the inquiry team visited the hospital in the month of April and the hospital has provided full cooperation to the team. The Max hospital has categorically refuted the charges of negligence and claimed that the hospital followed all procedures in treatment of patient Rahul Rawat.