City Hospital in Cuttack. Telegraph picture

Cuttack, Sept. 4: A three-member committee headed by an additional district magistrate has started inquiry into functioning of the government-run City Hospital here today. The committee will submit its report within a week.

Cuttack’s district magistrate and collector had ordered the probe on Friday after receiving a memorandum for inquiry into “untoward events” at the hospital vis-à-vis “services provided by the doctors working there” from Orissa Medical Services Association (OMSA).

“Complaints alleging lapses in health service delivery system at the hospital were received not just from the OMSA. Several other organisations had also complained of lapses in treatment of patients,” Girish S.N., district magistrate and collector of Cuttack, told The Telegraph.

The City Hospital had been embroiled in controversy over recurring patient deaths because of alleged negligence in treatment.

On June 26, a woman had delivered a child near the main gate of this hospital. The baby died as no medical staff had allegedly attended to her. A day later, another woman died at the hospital allegedly because of delay in receiving treatment.

Acting on a lawyer’s petition, State Human Rights Commission had decided to inquire into the deaths. On August 2, the commission sought a factual report from the chief district medical officer (CDMO) and other documents and materials from the petitioner within four weeks to facilitate the inquiry.

Another woman had died within an hour of giving birth to a stillborn child at the hospital on August 25.

The OMSA had submitted the memorandum to the district magistrate and collector on August 30.

“As we have already conducted an inquiry into the maternity death last month and submitted a report on it to the government, the additional district magistrate-led committee has been asked to inquire into the state of affairs and day-to-day running of the hospital,” Girish said.

The inquiry committee, headed by additional district magistrate Srikant Sahu, also includes district emergency officer Sukanta Kumar Mohanty and district social welfare officer Tuna Behera.

“The committee has already started its inquiry. It will submit a report within a week,” Sahu told The Telegraph.

The OMSA’s state general secretary Kishore Chandra Mishra had urged for an “inquiry into the number of patients admitted to indoor beds by concerned specialists present at the City Hospital and how many were referred to the S.C.B. Medical College and Hospital on the plea of better treatment on monthly basis”.

The association had also requested for “a thorough inquiry into how many times the CDMO has visited, supervised and has been able to manage the deficiencies prevalent in the health institutions to provide the best health services to the public”.

“The untoward incidents have put a question mark on the services provided by the doctors working under the administrative control of Cuttack’s CDMO, additional district medical officer of City Hospital, and the district health administration,” said Mishra.

The association was of the view that “there is no dearth of specialist doctors, rather they may be in surplus” in the City Hospital in Cuttack which largely serves the daily wage earners, poor, downtrodden and economically weak people of Cuttack and its surrounding villages. The hospital has a daily turn out of around 500 patients at its outdoor wards. It also has 35 doctors and 130 beds for indoor treatment.