Uttarakhand Commission for Protection of Child Rights (UCPCR) chairperson Yogendra Khanduri sounded disappointed over director of medical education having not yet replied to the notice issued by the commission over the shutting down of the paediatric ward in the Doon Hospital. “I wonder why the reply has not come though the notice mentioned that the reply should come in a week. Eleven days have passed since the notice was served and no replay has been received from the department concerned over the matter so far,” he said.
The chairperson said on Wednesday that he might summon the director of the medical education to appear before the commission. “We would have hardly any option left but to summon the officer concerned to the commission unless a report we sought is submitted in a few days,” he said.
Notably, UCPCR member Sharda Tripathi inspected the Doon Hospital along with Bachpan Bachao Andolan member Suresh Uniyal on Wednesday. Tripathi said, post-inspection that she found that the condition of the children’s ward in Doon Hospital was not good. “Walls of the ward are in dilapidated condition. In case of any calamity, the wall would collapse and no one would survive,” she said.
It should be mentioned here that earlier too, the commission had sought a reply from the director of medical education over the same issue of the paediatric ward remaining closed for the past three months, something that resulted in the sick children being admitted in the general ward of Doon Medical College and Hospital.