Sushruta deaths: Govt says no detailed report awaited

The Delhi government has gone back on its promise of a detailed report on the Sushruta Trauma Centre deaths last year, reports Jaya Shroff Bhalla.

The Delhi government has gone back on its promise of a detailed report on the Sushruta Trauma Centre deaths last year.

HT Image

Four people died in the intensive care unit for want of continued oxygen supply in the first week of December.

"No report is awaited. We have taken strict action against the firm (PES installations) in charge of the maintenance of oxygen supply by blacklisting them," said Delhi health minister AK Walia.

"We took immediate action after the incident against four medical officers, including two doctors who had failed in their duty. Soon after the preliminary enquiry report was out, the services of Dr Teena Khurana and Dr Richa Gupta, specialists in charge of the ICU, were terminated.

Dr Anshuman Kumar, who was in charge of repairs, was suspended and the additional medical superintendent was transferred," said Walia.

Meanwhile, the Union health ministry is upset for not having received a report from the state on the four deaths.

The ministry issued a memorandum in December, stating the Delhi health minister and officials strictly adhere to the administrative protocols and report such incidents to it.

A positive outcome is the proposal for the creation of a post to monitor the functioning of medical equipment across government hospitals.

"Every hospital will have a special post, where the doctor will only be required to look into the functioning of the medical equipments. This will ensure that such tragedies do not happen in future," said Walia. "This will also be better accountability," he said.

Setting up a trauma centre in the newly constructed orthopaedic block at Lok Nayak Hospital is expected to overcome the shortage of beds.