N Dinajpur hospital turns away HIV patient, doctor showcaused

BALURGHAT: In a significant move, North Dinajpur District Hospital superintendent Goutam Mondal has been showcaused by the concerned district Chief Medical Officer of Health, Prakash Mirdha, for not admitting a serious HIV female patient to the hospital.

Mondal has also been asked to identify the on-duty doctor, who refused admission to the patient. According to a district hospital source, the incident occurred on Wednesday when Rekha Biswas (name changed) Shaktinagar reached hospital in a serious condition with her family members. She has been tested HIV positive.

Even after hearing that Biswas, a resident of Raiganj, has been suffering from Aids, the emergency on-duty doctor refused to admit her. The doctor also misbehaved with the woman and her family.

Following the incident, the Biswas family staged demonstartions at the hospital premises demanding the hospital authority to admit her immediately. A written complaint had been filed against the concerned hospital authority. As the situation spiralled out of control, the hospital authority finally admitted her later. She is undergoing treatment in hospital till the last report came in.

After receiving the complaint, CMOH Prakash Mirdha sought explanation from the hospital superintendent Goutam Mondal asking him to identify the accused doctor as early as possible. Mirdha recommended stringent actions against the same to the state Health department.

Notably, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has already directed to all district hospitals along with all state-owned hospitals not to refuse admission to any

patient if required.

"It was a violation of the model code of conduct that we received from the state government recently. The accused doctor should apologise before the victim," said a veteran doctor of the hospital, Jayanta Bhattacharjee.