HYDERABAD: The BJP on Saturday trashed the government decision to punish 13 people, including doctors and hospital staff, from the Ibrahimpatnam community health centre (CHC) where four women who underwent family planning operations died on August 25. Thirty-four women had undergone the surgery, and many had to be
State BJP spokesperson Rani Rudrama dismissed the report prepared by Director of Public Health and Family Welfare Dr G Srinivasa Rao, declaring that he was responsible for patient safety. By placing him as the person to investigate the botched operations, the government protected those who were guilty, she alleged.
Rudrama also demanded that health minister T. Harish Rao either resign owning moral responsibility or be sacked from the Cabinet.
She said a team of doctors from the BJP who investigated into the botch-up had prepared a parallel report which found that the three sets of laparoscopic equipment used for the surgeries were brought from the Ranga Reddy district health office.
“This equipment was last used before the onset of Covid pandemic and it was found that the equipment was not sterilized. The person who should be supervising the goings-on is the Director of Public Health. He is the real culprit. By asking him to head the probe, the government is protecting Harish Rao, and minister K.T. Rama Rao who are protecting this official,” she alleged.
The BJP leader also said the probe found that the doctors from the Ibrahimpatnam CHC had rushed to attend the inauguration of the Ranga Reddy district collectorate by the Chief Minister. “Who ordered them to attend the event? If they went on their own that day, why were they not questioned why the women who underwent the surgeries were abandoned by them,” Rudrama asked.
The BJP, she said, demanded the constitution of a new probe committee headed by a civil judge with qualified doctors including a gynaecologist and a surgeon for conducting a proper investigation into the botched family planning operations.
