SCB superintendent apologises to NCW team

Reported by Santosh Jagdev

Bhubaneswar, Sept 4:

The Superintendent of SCB Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH), Cuttack Dr Shyama Kanungo, along with two other doctors of the ENT and FMT departments, today appeared before the two-member team from National Commission for Women (NCW) and  apologised to it for the delay in the medical check-up of the teenage victim of rape in Khandapada.

“The doctors apologized for their medical negligence”, said NCW member Manasi Pradhan adding that staff at SCB behaved in the worst callous manner in the case.

Quoting the hospital Superintendent, Pradhan said there was a miscommunication at the level of the junior doctors treating the victim.

The NCW members also collected all relevant documents along with an explanation from the doctors. After an inquiry by the NCW team, the doctors submitted the preliminary report of the victim on September 1. The team will visit SCB again on September 6 for further interrogation and verification of records, they added.

According to the team, after arriving with full protocol at SCBMCH on August 30, none of the doctors treating the victim were present though the detailed itinerary of the inquiry team had been sent to the State Government earlier. They further stated that when the committee called for the Superintendent to arrive with the medical reports of the victim, the latter refused to comply with the order.

The two-member NCW Inquiry committee of Hemlata Kheria and Manasi Pradhan is on an official tour to the State since August 29, 2013, to inquire into the alleged gang-rape and stabbing of a 16-year old tribal girl in Khandapada in Nayagarh district who is in a  critical condition at the ENT ward of the SCBMCH.

The team is scheduled to leave for Delhi on September 9.