HC directs disciplinary action against 2 govt officials
TNN | Feb 28, 2020, 04.31 AM IST
Madurai: Taking serious note of the dereliction of duty by a multipurpose health supervisor at the Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) and an inspector of police of the K Pudur police station in handing over the death certificate and postmortem report to the family of a woman who died due to medical negligence, the Madras high court has directed disciplinary action against them.
S Manimuthu, the husband of Sakthikali, filed a petition seeking Rs 10 lakh compensation for his wife’s death. The petitioner also sought to issue the death certificate and postmortem report. Sakthikali was admitted for delivery at the K Pudur urban primary health centre on September 14, 2019. The duty doctor stated that the delivery would be normal and there is no complication. After the doctor left the hospital, his wife went into labour and the doctor did not return till 11pm.
Few minutes later when the nurse called him inside the UPHC, he noticed that his wife was lying in a pool of blood and immediately he took his wife to the GRH in an ambulance where the doctors declared her brought dead. Based on his complaint, the K Pudur police have registered a case under Section 174 CrPC.
Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana observed that the court had directed the authorities to file an affidavit explaining as to why the reasons for the death of woman was not informed to the petitioner. Refusing to accept the reasons cited by the officials for the delay, the judge observed that officials are pointing fingers at each other without performing their duties. “When it comes to uniformed services and health service, it is round-the-clock service and they have more rigid duty cast upon them than the other public servants,” observed the judge. The judge noted that only after the intervention of this court, the death certificate was handed over to the petitioner. The judge observed that it is abundantly clear that multipurpose supervisor Theenathayalan and inspector of police Muthukumar are prima facie liable for the lapses committed by them in the discharge of their duties. Hence, the judge directed the Madurai deputy director of health services and Madurai city commissioner of police to initiate appropriate departmental action against Theenathayalan and Muthukumar respectively within a period of four weeks.
The judge further directed the commissioner of police to hand over the investigation to some other inspector of police who should file a final report before the jurisdictional magistrate not later than three months.
Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana also took cognizance of a government order (GO) passed by the health and family welfare department notifying the Tamil Nadu Clinical Establishments (Regulation) Rules, 2018, which prescribed minimum facilities of a clinical establishment including the number of staff and equipment. The judge directed the state government to ensure that all hospitals strictly comply with the rules and directed the health secretary to issue circulars to refer the patients to the district headquarters hospitals or other hospitals if the required facilities are not available at any hospitals rather than waiting for the patient to reach a critical condition.
TNN | Feb 28, 2020, 04.31 AM IST
Madurai: Taking serious note of the dereliction of duty by a multipurpose health supervisor at the Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) and an inspector of police of the K Pudur police station in handing over the death certificate and postmortem report to the family of a woman who died due to medical negligence, the Madras high court has directed disciplinary action against them.
S Manimuthu, the husband of Sakthikali, filed a petition seeking Rs 10 lakh compensation for his wife’s death. The petitioner also sought to issue the death certificate and postmortem report. Sakthikali was admitted for delivery at the K Pudur urban primary health centre on September 14, 2019. The duty doctor stated that the delivery would be normal and there is no complication. After the doctor left the hospital, his wife went into labour and the doctor did not return till 11pm.
Few minutes later when the nurse called him inside the UPHC, he noticed that his wife was lying in a pool of blood and immediately he took his wife to the GRH in an ambulance where the doctors declared her brought dead. Based on his complaint, the K Pudur police have registered a case under Section 174 CrPC.
Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana observed that the court had directed the authorities to file an affidavit explaining as to why the reasons for the death of woman was not informed to the petitioner. Refusing to accept the reasons cited by the officials for the delay, the judge observed that officials are pointing fingers at each other without performing their duties. “When it comes to uniformed services and health service, it is round-the-clock service and they have more rigid duty cast upon them than the other public servants,” observed the judge. The judge noted that only after the intervention of this court, the death certificate was handed over to the petitioner. The judge observed that it is abundantly clear that multipurpose supervisor Theenathayalan and inspector of police Muthukumar are prima facie liable for the lapses committed by them in the discharge of their duties. Hence, the judge directed the Madurai deputy director of health services and Madurai city commissioner of police to initiate appropriate departmental action against Theenathayalan and Muthukumar respectively within a period of four weeks.
The judge further directed the commissioner of police to hand over the investigation to some other inspector of police who should file a final report before the jurisdictional magistrate not later than three months.
Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana also took cognizance of a government order (GO) passed by the health and family welfare department notifying the Tamil Nadu Clinical Establishments (Regulation) Rules, 2018, which prescribed minimum facilities of a clinical establishment including the number of staff and equipment. The judge directed the state government to ensure that all hospitals strictly comply with the rules and directed the health secretary to issue circulars to refer the patients to the district headquarters hospitals or other hospitals if the required facilities are not available at any hospitals rather than waiting for the patient to reach a critical condition.
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