C’garh deaths case: Probe panel formed
15 Nov 2014 12:40 AM GMT
The director of the drug compnay, whose medicines were used, was also arrested on Friday. Over a 100 women are still unwell, with some of them reported to be critical. And it was further reported on Friday that new patients had been walking into hospitals in Bilaspur, complaining of ‘vomiting, dizziness, and swelling’. These new patients are thought to have taken the same medicines that might have caused the deaths of the 13 women.
The judicial panel will be headed by retired district and sessions judge Anita Jha. A statement issued by the government on Friday said: ‘A single-member probe commission has been constituted and retired district and sessions judge Anita Jha has been entrusted with the responsibility of investigating the case of sterilisation surgeries at Sankri (Pendari), Gaurela, Pendra and Marwahi areas of Bilaspur district, where 13 women died and several fell critically ill after undergoing surgery.’
Jha has been asked to look into whether or not standard protocol was followed at the camps, what led to the deaths, whether the surgical tools and/or medicines used at the camps were sub-standard, and who is to be held accountable for the deaths. Jha has also been asked to report her findings within three months.
Earlier on Friday, police arrested the director of the drug company that had manufactured the antibiotic – Ciprocin 50 – given to the women after they had been operated on. ‘Ramesh Mahwar and his son have been arrested, on a complaint by Food and Drug Administration officials,’ Raipur superintendent of police OP Pal said. He added that the duo were produced in court on Friday, and have been remanded in police custody until November 19. The father and son have been charged under section 420 – cheating – of the IPC.
A manufacturing unit of Mahawar Pharma in Bilsapur, where the antibiotic given to the women after their operations was being manufactured, had been shut down by the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday. It was also reported that when the FDA got there, they found that a large quantity of drugs had been burnt inside the premises. The FDA had on Thursday also raided a manufacturing unit of Kavita Pharmaceuticals in Bilaspur, which too had allegedly supplied medicines to the sterilisation camps. Samples from both the units have been sent for testing.
So far, the Chhattisgarh government has banned the sale of six drugs used at government-run sterilisation camps. And it has shut down all sterilisation camps until further notice.
The government had earlier suspended state programme convener, family planning, Dr K C Urao, Takhatpur block medical officer Dr Pramod Tiwari, and transferred the director of health services Dr Kamalpreet Singh.
Dr RK Gupta of Bilaspur district hospital, who had performed tubectomies on 83 women at a sterilisation camp in Pendari village, was apprehended by police late on Wednesday night. Both he and Dr RK Bhange, Bilaspur’s chief medical and health officer, have been dismissed from government service.
The judicial panel will be headed by retired district and sessions judge Anita Jha. A statement issued by the government on Friday said: ‘A single-member probe commission has been constituted and retired district and sessions judge Anita Jha has been entrusted with the responsibility of investigating the case of sterilisation surgeries at Sankri (Pendari), Gaurela, Pendra and Marwahi areas of Bilaspur district, where 13 women died and several fell critically ill after undergoing surgery.’
Jha has been asked to look into whether or not standard protocol was followed at the camps, what led to the deaths, whether the surgical tools and/or medicines used at the camps were sub-standard, and who is to be held accountable for the deaths. Jha has also been asked to report her findings within three months.
Earlier on Friday, police arrested the director of the drug company that had manufactured the antibiotic – Ciprocin 50 – given to the women after they had been operated on. ‘Ramesh Mahwar and his son have been arrested, on a complaint by Food and Drug Administration officials,’ Raipur superintendent of police OP Pal said. He added that the duo were produced in court on Friday, and have been remanded in police custody until November 19. The father and son have been charged under section 420 – cheating – of the IPC.
A manufacturing unit of Mahawar Pharma in Bilsapur, where the antibiotic given to the women after their operations was being manufactured, had been shut down by the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday. It was also reported that when the FDA got there, they found that a large quantity of drugs had been burnt inside the premises. The FDA had on Thursday also raided a manufacturing unit of Kavita Pharmaceuticals in Bilaspur, which too had allegedly supplied medicines to the sterilisation camps. Samples from both the units have been sent for testing.
So far, the Chhattisgarh government has banned the sale of six drugs used at government-run sterilisation camps. And it has shut down all sterilisation camps until further notice.
The government had earlier suspended state programme convener, family planning, Dr K C Urao, Takhatpur block medical officer Dr Pramod Tiwari, and transferred the director of health services Dr Kamalpreet Singh.
Dr RK Gupta of Bilaspur district hospital, who had performed tubectomies on 83 women at a sterilisation camp in Pendari village, was apprehended by police late on Wednesday night. Both he and Dr RK Bhange, Bilaspur’s chief medical and health officer, have been dismissed from government service.
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