JJ Hosp ophthalmology dept row: Dean sends notice to HOD

On May 30, HT reported on the resident doctors’ letter to the dean alleging Dr Sumeet Lahane son of ex-dean of JJ Hospital and ex-DMER Dr TP Lahane, attempted to manipulate and intimidate them into withdrawing their initial complaint against his father

Mumbai: Grant Medical College and Sir JJ Hospital administration have sent a notice to Dr Ragini Parekh, head of the department of ophthalmology seeking an explanation on Dr Sumeet Lahane performing cataract surgeries, and seeing patients in the outpatient department.

JJ Hosp ophthalmology dept row: Dean sends notice to HOD

On May 30, HT reported on the resident doctors’ letter to the dean alleging Dr Sumeet Lahane son of ex-dean of JJ Hospital and ex-DMER Dr TP Lahane, attempted to manipulate and intimidate them into withdrawing their initial complaint against his father.

After their complaint, the dean set up a committee under Dr Sanjay Surase-Medical superintendent to investigate the allegations. The committee found Dr Sumeet checked the CCTV footage and medical records and found that he had been coming to the hospital regularly, operating on patients and seeing them.

Dr Sumeet, who was earlier a lecturer in the hospital’s department, resigned in March 2022.

In the notice to Dr Parekh, the dean asked her to produce if there is any government order allowing Dr Sumeet to operate in JJ Hospital and see patients. It said in the absence of any such official paper, she as a head of the department allowed an outsider to come to the hospital and operate and see patients is a serious offence and a criminal matter. Dr Parekh has also been asked why an FIR should not be registered against Dr Sumeet Lahane and her for working without a permit.

While Dr Parekh told HT that she cannot comment on being a government employee, Dr TP Lahane said a notice may have been issued to Dr Ragini Parekh.

Meanwhile, JJ Hospital also found out Dr Parekh and seven honorary doctors, who had resigned on May 31 citing ‘personal reasons’, had faulted the National Medical Commission (NMC) norm and not registered themselves to be biometric.

“NMC has made Aadhaar-linked biometric attendance and CCTV cameras compulsory in medical colleges in the last year. Around 40 medical colleges across the country lost recognition over the last two months for not following the NMC set standards. Our officials have been following up with Dr Parekh and the seven doctors for the last few months but they have not completed the procedure. They are the only ones in the hospital who have not done biometrics,” said a senior official from JJ Hospital.

MARD has decided to continue with its indefinite strike.

Dr Lahane along with other honorary doctors took a press conference on June 2 and said they have resigned from their respective posts and have decided not to join JJ Hospital again after alleged humiliation. The resignations came after a slew of accusations against the duo- Dr Lahane and Dr Parekh: the resident doctors accused them of implementing a dictatorial management style, not giving them access to practical surgical experience, and curtailing their academic activity and research opportunities.

The three-member committee at JJ Hospital, formed last week to look into the allegations, found that the doctors were not trained in basic cataract surgery. It also found that the department had only one unit, which is against the National Medical Commission (NMC) guidelines.

Dr Lahane, in the press conference, however, said the three-member committee did not take their versions.

Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) has announced indefinite strike from June 5. They met the medical education minister Girish Mahajan on June 2 and presented their demands. Close to 750 resident doctors at Sir JJ Hospital went on an indefinite strike from May 31, seeking immediate action by the government against ex-DMER director Dr T P Lahane and ophthalmology department head Dr Ragini Parekh for their allegedly dictatorial way of running the department. The residents, who have been on the warpath for a couple of days, said that the duo’s style of functioning had led to their being deprived of hands-on surgical experience.