Health Centre slams doors on Saharias

HT CorrespondentGwalior, January 10, 2007

THE DOORS of Chanderi Community Health Centre (CHC) in Ashok Nagar district have been allegedly closed on the Saharia tribals of Nidanpur village. Reason? The tribals had dared to complain against the block medical officer.
The Saharias of Nidanpur, 20 km from Chanderi block, had, on December 2 last, alleged that the death of a woman Neba Bai was caused by the negligence of BMO Dr R P Sharma and other staff.

However, Dr Sharma has denied the allegation and said it was his professional duty to treat patients. About charges regarding negligence, he said the police were investigating the case and the truth would come out soon. According to Neba Bai’s husband Kapoora, she was admitted to Chanderi CHC on November 17 in an advanced stage of pregnancy. She was administered glucose intravenous. However, after sometime, when the bottle emptied, blood started entering the bottle from Neba Bai and no hospital staff was on hand to attend to her. The attendant of another patient removed the needle from the woman’s wrist to stop the bleeding. But she died the next day. Later, Kapoora, with the help of village Sarpanch and local non-governmental organisations, lodged a complaint with Police.

The postmortem report termed the death as due to ‘natural’ causes. The villagers allege that after their complaint, the doctors have been refusing to treat Saharia patients of Nidanpur on one pretext or the other, which resulted in the death of another woman Phool Kunwar, wife of Udham Singh, on December 27. Phool Kunwar was also pregnant and was taken to Chanderi CHC on December 26 from where she was referred to Ashok Nagar hospital.

Village Sarpanch Saindpal Singh Bundela said that Saharia patients of village were not treated in the health centre. Social workers Rajesh Kumar and Asma Parveen said that auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) did not attend to Phool Kunwar during pregnancy. They also accused Dr Sharma of refusing to take in patients of Nidanpur village and misbehaving with social workers. The villagers have complained in this connection to the district Collector besides sending a complaint to the Chief Minister by fax.