Police quiz Apollo's Chief Operating Officer

Police on Wednesday have interrogated the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Apollo Gleneagles Hospital, Joy Basu in connection with the incident of alleged medical negligence that eventually led to the death of Sanjay Roy whose family members were forced to deposit a fixed deposit certificate as security money for transferring the patient to another hospital.

During the interrogation, the investigating officers compared and verified the statements of Joy Basu with that of Rupali Basu, the former CEO of the hospital, in the Eastern Region and the present CEO Rana Dasgupta who were summoned to the Phool Bagan police station on Tuesday. Dasgupta was let off by the police after a brief interrogation while Rupali Basu had been grilled by the investigating officers in this connection. Police recorded the statement of Joy Basu.

According to the police, they may again summon Rupali Basu for the sake of investigation. It was learnt that the investigating officers are mainly verifying the documents that have been collected by probing the hospital doctors and some other senior staff members of the hospital. Altogether, 12 doctors and staff members have so far been interrogated in this connection. A senior official of the billing section was also interrogated who has provided some important information to the police.

Incidentally, it may be mentioned that the billing section of the hospital had mounted immense pressure on the family members of Sanjay Roy to deposit a fixed deposit certificate in the hospital due to the non-payment of dues. It was alleged that the hospital authorities did not allow the patient to be transferred to SSKM Hospital without clearing the dues.

On the basis of the complaint lodged by the relatives of the victim with the state Health department, the senior health officials started a probe into the incident. An inquiry committee, that had been constituted to probe into the incident, found some serious lapses by the hospital authorities. The police have also started a separate probe into the incident after Sanjay's wife lodged a complaint with the Phool Bagan police station.

In the course of investigation, the investigating officer also found some negligence in the treatment of the patient. A senior police officer said that they may interrogate the doctors who were involved in the treatment of the patient. It may be mentioned here that all the doctors have already been interrogated in this connection.

Sanjay Roy was admitted to the hospital with severe injuries in various parts of his body following a road accident.