CUTTACK: The alleged rape of two patients by a resident doctor at SCB medical college and hospital here recently, that too on a holiday, has exposed several loopholes in the hospital administration which reportedly led to the incident.
On Saturday, Mangalabag police seized the video recordings of the echocardiogram machine from the cardiology department in connection with the incident which occurred on August 11. The accused, Dr Thakur Dilbag Singh was arrested last Tuesday.
A senior police officer said the video recordings would be sent to the State Forensic Science Laboratory in Bhubaneswar for further investigation. “The echocardiogarm test is confined to the chest only. The video recordings would be examined to ascertain whether the accused doctor had done something beyond it on the pretext of the test. The recordings would be submitted in court as digital evidence against the accused,” he said.
Police have also collected CCTV footages from 15 locations starting from the senior residents’ hostel to cardiology department’s diagnostic unit to find details of Dr Singh’s movement on the day. This apart, statements of around 12 people including staff nurses, security guards and other employees working near the echo room have been recorded.
Police have also sought call detail records of the mobile phones of Singh and the PG student, whose mother and aunt were allegedly raped by the former. The PG student concerned had reportedly called Dr Singh after reaching the cardiology department with the victims following which he arrived at the department and conducted the echo test.
Sources said except for emergency cases, echo test is not conducted on a holiday. The keys of the echo room are kept with two persons - a staff nurse and the indoor in-charge of the department.
As per provision, the echo test is required to be conducted under the supervision of a doctor above the rank of assistant professor. This raises the question as to how Dr Singh, who is a DM cardiology resident doctor, obtained the keys of the echo room from the staff and who had given him permission for conducting the test. If sources are to be believed, the accused had neither taken permission for conducting the echo tests of the victims nor had the staff nurse informed the authorities of handing over of the keys to the accused on a holiday.
Though the three-member committee headed by DMET Dr Santosh Kumar Mishra constituted by Health and Family Welfare department has conducted a probe and submitted inquiry report, all eyes are now on the action of the state government in this regard.