SHILLONG: A day after Health and Family Welfare Minister AL Hek proposed constitution of a high-level inquiry to sort out the issues between the administration and Cardiology department of NEIGRIHMS, the Administration of the institute on Friday said that Director of NEIGRIHMS had sent a detailed reply to a letter forwarded through Pravin Bakshi, Secretary of the Health and Family Welfare Department on the subject “Notice for short duration discussion under Rule 50 of the Rules of Procedure & Conduct of Business” tabled by MLA Syntar Klas Sunn.
The statement said that on May 5, 2019, a 55-year-old woman hailing from Mawphlang was admitted in NEIGRIHMS following a heart attack.
The woman was posted for surgery on May 6, but due to stalemate in the institute, the surgery could not be done as per schedule.
As the days passed, her condition deteriorated and on May 10 she was put on life support system and thereafter expired.
The statement said the patient came with grave heart problem quite late for treatment and as the patient was unstable, attempt to stabilise failed and she expired.
The statement further added that the Cardiology department had recorded 117 deaths from January, 2018 to May, 2019 for almost similar causes and in none of these cases, Impella device was used, which the current patient family could not buy as it cost Rs 25 lakh.
Stents and pacemakers were made available in Amrit Pharmacy from May 4, 2019 onwards, hence, there is no question of its unavailability.
According to the statement, stents and other devices from M/s Sanjo Medical, a vendor just outside the hospital, were seized on April 30 who was illegally supplying the items in Cath lab of Cardiology department, adding for this reason, cardiology department wanted to make an issue. Meghalaya High Court took notice of the same case and closed it, after due deliberation.
Stating that poor patients were asked to pay exorbitant fees for stents and other devices from outside vendor and from Prime Minister’s Office, complaints had been received in the institute regarding the same.
The same stents and devices are now made available at subsidised rate (10 to 15 thousand rupees less than available in the market through the Amrit Pharmacy inside the hospital).
“A clandestine nexus between private vendor M/s Sanjo Medical, Shillong and Dr. Animesh Mishra, HoD Cardiology was thus exposed and was confirmed by vigilance enquiry conducted by the institute,” the statement from NEIGRIHMS said.
Vigilance Section of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Nirman Bhavan, New Delhi has taken note of this and has asked for details.
In the meanwhile, CBI has taken note of the happenings and is investigating the matter following surprise checks.
