SHILLONG: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Friday said that if there is any illegal activity going on in NEIGRIHMS, the matter should be inquired and the union government would take a call on the matter.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Sangma said the state government does not interfere into the administration and running of the institute since it is under the jurisdiction of the union government.
Sangma, however, urged the central government to look into the allegations of ‘implant mafia’ in NEIGRIHMS and take corrective measures if things are going wrong.
The Director of NEIGRIHMS, DM Thappa recently made a serious allegation about a syndicate working between the cardiology department and Sanju Pharmacy in terms of procuring pace makers, stents and various other implants and had even gone on to the extent of alleging that an implant mafia is working in the institute.
”I would urge the government of India to look into the matter and find a way forward to this and if there is something going wrong to take corrective measures,’ the chief minister said.
Asked if the state government is looking forward for a CBI inquiry, he refused to comment but said that the jurisdiction and rules related to the appointments is directly under the purview of the Centre and the agency from the central government will be the right one to look into it.
FIR filed with CBI
Social Activist Agnes Kharshiing has filed an FIR with the SP of CBI in the city to investigate the anomalies.
In the FIR filed on Thursday, Agnes, quoting media reports, alleged that implant mafia runs multi-crore business in NEIGRIHMS and a syndicate between Cardiology department head and proprietor of Sanju Pharmacy has been going on for years and this is serious and has to be investigated into so that the truth is revealed as this is dangerous to the public at large and exploited by some people to become rich.
“We have also been informed that the Chief Vigilance Officer NEIGRIHMS has seized many cardio materials on April 30 this year on the premises of NEIGRIHMS and the materials were claimed by Sanju Pharmacy run by the wife of a technician working at NEIGRIHMS and he could be a conduit to bring in cardio materials to NEIGRIHMS without following any procedure to procure the devices by the cardiology department head”, Agnes said.
According to the FIR, the media reports had said that the director had proposed for a vigilance report.
“The matter being serious, we urge that a thorough investigation be carried out to reveal the nexus between the cardiology department head and the proprietor of Sanju Pharmacy and others who try to protect them and we also demand that a case by disproportionate assets against the persons involved may be carried out”, the FIR said.
