MLC warned of Gorakhpur hospital affairs

Shahira Naim

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, August 17

The Gorakhpur deaths could have been averted had the Uttar Pradesh Government followed up on its own inquiry against the now suspended principal of Baba Ram Das Medical College, RK Misra, exactly a month ago on July 10.

The issue of corruption, principal’s ‘misuse’ of position and ‘interference’ by his wife Dr Purnima Shukla in every decision was raised by Samajwadi Party MLC from Gorakhpur CP Chand in the Vidhan Parishad on May 22. Demanding stern action against the principal, he had made 10 points, which are now part of the Vidhan Parishad’s proceedings, to substantiate his charges.

He had alleged that Class IV employees were being promoted as clerks and drivers without the requisite qualification by taking money, that the principal’s wife was taking administrative decisions regarding purchases and promotions, that there was a need to look into the expensive instruments bought for a newly constructed 500-bed ward, that the powers of Chief Medical Superintendent had been usurped and payments were being made in a wilful manner, that Class III and IV employees were being appointed through a service provider after accepting money, that instead of buying X-ray films from a firm in Gorakhpur these were being procured from a relative in Siddhartha Nagar at unjustifiable rates, that surgical equipment had not been bought from money allocated under the equipment and supply head, instead the entire amount had been used to buy bedsheets at a huge commission rate, that money allocated for the repair of a 32-bed private ward had been squandered away, that the CT scan and MRI machine were not working and that Dr Purnima Shukla, posted as Homeopathic Medical Officer at Gola Bazar, was seldom seen there.

An inquiry conducted by the Gorakhpur Commissioner had found the charges to be correct. It had also brought to the fore the anger among the college staff because of “interference” by the principal’s wife.

Taking cognizance of the MLC’s detailed statement, CM Yogi Adityanath had ordered an inquiry against the principal a month prior to his being suspended.

Akhilesh detained

• Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav was on Thursday detained when he was on his way to Auraiya to attend a protest rally
• Later released and allowed to proceed to Lucknow, he attacked the Yogi government for ‘misusing’ state machinery
• “I was going to Auriaya to meet party workers who were subjected to barbaric police action...The state government wants to win the zila panchayat post by misusing official machinery...My workers did not do anything wrong in Auraiya,” he claimed