Rights outfit calls civil surgeon's bluff

Members of Jamshedpur Human Rights Conference protest in front of the district collectorate on Monday. (Bhola Prasad)

A Jamshedpur-based human rights body has levelled charges of factual inaccuracy and deliberate misrepresentation against East Singhbhum civil surgeon over the 10 per cent reservation for the poor in city hospitals.

Jharkhand Human Rights Conference (JHRC) on Monday submitted a written complaint to the state director-in-chief (health services) Praveen Chandra seeking action against district civil surgeon Vibha Sharan for submitting a “false affidavit” related to bed reservation for the needy.

The outfit’s secretary Manoj Mishra said the civil surgeon had submitted an affidavit based on Chandra’s directive after the JHRC’s prod in the matter in May 2010, but the legal document “appeared erroneous”, based on their own findings.

The human rights outfit wanted to ensure that leading healthcare hubs of Jamshedpur reserved 10 per cent of their beds for needy patients.

Sharan, in her affidavit, had stated that 12 leading hospitals and nursing homes in the city fulfilled the criterion.

However, Mishra said they did not buy her version.

“She did not carry out an independent probe to check if health institutions in question had given correct figures. Even the district administration did not check facts presented by her,” said Mishra.

He said the JHRC would conduct independent inspections of Mayank Mrinal Hospital, Medicare Nursing Home, Nisha Nursing Home, Sanjeevani Nursing Home, Smriti Nursing Home and Sahara Nursing Home and the like to crosscheck if they did at all reserve 10 per cent.

The human rights body also questioned the civil surgeon’s affidavit on another count.

“In their respective agreements, none of the leading healthcare names such as Tata Main Hospital, Tata Motors Hospital, Tinplate Hospital, Mercy Hospital and Rajasthan Seva Sadan has even mentioned about the 10 per cent reservation for the poor,” he said, adding the situation was ambiguous.

“On what basis has the civil surgeon claimed in her affidavit before us, Dhalbhum SDO and other administrative officials that the hospitals adhere to admission norms for the poor?” he asked, adding that if the situation did not become clear in the next couple of days, they might move Jharkhand High Court against the district civil surgeon.

When contacted, Sharan said she was in Ranchi and would comment only on her return.