THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Two days after the internal committee which inquired into the alleged medical negligence case at the Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) in Thiruvananthapuram provided it with a clean chit, the Kerala State Human Rights Commission (KSHRC) has asked the Health Secretary to constitute a high-level medical team and probe the incident. The report will have to be handed over within four weeks, said commission acting chairman P Mohandas.
“The incident was an unfortunate one. Such incidents are not expected from a premier centre like RCC. If a doctor is being treated like this, what will be in store for the common man?” Mohandas said in his order. While asking the RCC director to seek an explanation from the said doctors who were mentioned in the video footage, alleging medical negligence, the commission directed to incorporate the same in the inquiry report.
It was on last Tuesday the two-member internal committee handed over its findings to Health Secretary Rajeev Sadanandan saying no lapse was there on the part of RCC and the departments concerned had ensured appropriate care and treatment for the patient in question. The Health Secretary had then stated he had gone through the reports as well as the records and is concurring with the findings of the committee.
It was on April 12 the Additional Chief Secretary (Health) ordered an internal inquiry into the allegation of a doctor on social media that his wife died due to the negligence on the part of some doctors at the RCC as they didn’t diagnose her properly. The doctor, identified as Reji, had then come out with the allegation his wife Mary Reji aka Jayamol, who is also a medical practitioner, last September consulted the RCC and was provided with the advice she had to undergo open splenectomy.