Nurses' Union demands Health Ministry-supervised probe into colleague's death

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences Nurses Union on Wednesday once again expressed their dissent and held a protest march demanding justice for their deceased colleague Rajbir Kaur.

The Union has rejected the report of the fact-finding committee, headed by AIIMS Medical Superintendent Dr D K Sharma, and have demanded his suspension.

The nurses alleged that the report set up by the AIIMS Administration on February 5, a day after Kaur's death, absolved the doctors responsible for the death of Kaur and her unborn child.

Criticising Sharma and the AIIMS administration, members of the Nurses' Union have now demanded a Union Health Ministry-supervised report on the death of Kaur.

Alleging that there was bias towards the doctors, the Nurses' Union questioned as to how the report by Sharma was prepared in the span of just 48 hours.

"The previous fact-finding committees, set up to examine the causes of complications to Rajbir, have still not come out with their reports. The report prepared by Dr D K Sharma, however, has come within 48 hours and given a clean chit to the doctors. This was purely done to safeguard the interests of the doctors.

We do not have any trust now in the AIIMS administration over a fair inquiry and now want intervention of the Union Health Ministry in the matter, "said Harish Kajla, President of the AIIMS Nurses Union.

"As of now, we are just expressing our anger over the report prepared by Dr Sharma. The report was made to revoke the suspension of the doctors. We are not holding a strike because we understand that it will paralyse the health services. However, if justice will not be provided to Rajbir Kaur, we may further intensify our protests," added Kajla.

Rajbir Kaur, who had been working as a nurse at AIIMS, was admitted to the hospital on January 16 for the delivery of her child.

However, severe complications started developing from January 17, which ultimately led to the death of Rajbir and her child.

The Nurses' Union has alleged that Rajbir died because of gross medical negligence of the doctors responsible for her treatment.