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Fake platelet supplying racket busted in U.P.’s Prayagraj, 10 held
A patient, according to his family members, had died on October 19 after being allegedly given wrong platelets at a Jhalwa-based private hospital which was sealed later
A joint team of Kotwali police and special operation group (SOG) of Prayagraj police on Friday unearthed a gang involved in supplying fake platelets in the city and arrested its 10 members. Raids are also being carried out in several parts of the district in search of other members of the gang.
A patient, according to his family members, had died on October 19 after being allegedly given wrong platelets at a Jhalwa-based private hospital which was sealed by the district medical and health officials on the orders of deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak late on Thursday night.
Meanwhile, officials are waiting for the test result of the one of the five remaining packets of platelets that was procured for the now deceased patient and could not be transfused. Taking serious note of the complaint of black marketing of the platelets for dengue patients, police officials had issued instructions to carry out an investigation.
SSP, Prayagraj, Shailesh Kumar Pandey said the SOG team under inspector Rajesh Upadhyay arrested the gang’s kingpin Raghvendra Singh, Sunil Pandey, Sarfaraz, Dilip Shukla, Pradeep Kumar Patel, Yogeshwar Singh, Praveen Patel, Vikas Kumar, Abhishek Kumar and Dilip Patel. Eighteen pouches of plasma, three pouches of suspected platelets, ₹1,02,000 cash, bikes and 13 mobile phones were recovered from their possession.
Questioning from the gang members revealed that they purchased pouches of plasma from blood banks which contain 350 ml of plasma. The 50 ml of plasma was then packed in other pouches on which stickers of blood banks were pasted and sold to attendants of patients for ₹3,000 to ₹5,000 per pouch. The gang member Sarfaraz works in global laboratory.
The gang members used to approach attendants of the patients who were in need of platelets urgently and would take them into confidence. Some of them even posed as staff of blood banks and sold them these platelets made from plasma. CMO, Prayagraj, Dr Nanak Saran said the samples of plasma seized from them had been sent to laboratory for testing.
Police officials said the gang had been operating for a long time and had earned hefty cash through black marketing of blood and platelets. Their connection at blood banks and hospitals was also being investigated, the officials added.
A private hospital in in Prayagraj’s Jhalwa was sealed on Thursday night on instructions of CMO Dr Nanak Saran. The action was taken following a complaint that a contractor Pradeep Pandey (30), a resident of Bakhrabad locality of Bamrauli, admitted to the hospital on October 14 was transfused with fake platelets following which his condition deteriorated. Pandey was shifted to another private hospital on October 17 where he died on October 19 morning.
DM Sanjay Kumar Khatri said three units of platelets were arranged by Pandey’s kin. However, the remaining five units of platelets were procured by hospital management. Pandey’s condition deteriorated when 5th unit of platelets was transfused in his body. The DM said questioning till now had revealed that there was no fruit juice in the pouch of platelets as was being reported on the social media but it might have contained plasma. The remaining pouch had been sent to the laboratory to ascertain the substance, he added.
Meanwhile, Dhumanganj police lodged an FIR against doctors and staff of Global Hospital besides one Satish Sahu and his father on the complaint of Pradeep Pandey’s wife Vaishnavi.
In her complaint, Vaishnavi Pandey alleged that her husband was transfused with fake platelets by hospital staff following which he died. The FIR has been registered under different sections of IPC including 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating), 467 (forging document), 468 (forgery, intending that the forged document or electronic record shall be used for the purpose of cheating ), 471 (fraudulently or dishonestly using as genuine any document or electronic record knowing it to be forged), 274 (adulterating drug or any medical preparation), 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder)and 120-B (being party to a criminal conspiracy).
A video that had gone viral purportedly showed that the patient Pradeep Pandey was transfused with fruit juice and chemicals in a platelet bag. After a video of the alleged incident went viral, the district administration sealed the hospital at the direction of Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak.
“Taking cognisance of the viral video at the hospital where a dengue patient was transfused with sweet lemon juice instead of platelets, on my directive the hospital was sealed and the platelet packets have been sent for testing,” Pathak had said in a tweet. “If found guilty, strict action will be taken against the hospital,” he had added. HTC
