VIJAYAWADA: In what came as a twist to the forceful surrogacy case that created an uproar in Vijayawada two months ago, Visakhapatnam King George Hospital (KGH) authorities on Tuesday responded by claiming to have sent Hormone Assessment test reports of victim Katta Sridevi to Vijayawada Government Hospital on August 20. The KGH also refuted the police officials for saying the delay in investigation was due to test reports.
The surrogacy case gained significance after the victim attempted suicide by consuming sleeping pills on Monday alleging doctors’ harassment to withdraw cases filed against them. The KGH officials said the delay in the investigation is not because of test reports and expressed doubts on the investigation agency.
The 23-year-old girl, Sridevi, had filed a complaint against her friend Sandhyarani and doctors of Karthika Datta’s IVF K Rajendra Prasad and his wife Ramadevi, alleging forceful surrogacy in Suryaraopet police station on August 11. Based on her complaint, the Suryaraopet police filed a case under sections 342 and 370 (1) of IPC and called her friend and the doctors for interrogation.
The case was referred to Vijayawada GGH for conducting medical tests on the vctim. “Since the Vijayawada GGH has no Endocrinology department and lab facility, Sridevi’s hormone samples were sent to KGH to conduct Hormone Assessment test to check whether she was under treatment for surrogacy. We received her samples on August 16 and conducted the tests in the presence of medical experts. On August 18, we sent the test reports to Vijayawada GGH via post and also through email,” the KGH Superintendent Arjuna Rao told TNIE.
Adding strength to the allegations levelled by the victim against the doctors, the investigation officials failed to bother about the test reports and even failed to give protection to the complainant. When TNIE contacted, Suryaraopet CI K Satyanarayana told the doctors working in the Vijayawada GGH to give an opinion on the test reports so that the police could proceed with the investigation.