Doctor who asked junior to 'kill' patient suspended

AGRA

: A government

doctor

who was caught on audio tape allegedly telling his

junior

colleague at a

hospital

here to "kill" a patient seeking admission was suspended from duty on Wednesday.

"The action has been taken following instructions from the state government, on the basis of news reports and the content of the audio clip which recorded the doctor, Swetank Prakash making some irresponsible remarks. He will be in suspension till the probe into the matter is complete," said VN Tripathi, director-general of medical education (DGME), talking to TOI. The DGME has ordered the Agra commissioner to an enquiry against the doctor.

Prakash is head of the surgery department at SN Medical College. On October 12, TOI had reported that he had been allegedly caught on a voice recorder on a mobile by the father of the dying patient, 18-year-old Mukesh Prajapati. The family of the patient was trying to get him admitted at the hospital. Prakash is heard telling his junior colleague that he could "kill the man, make it so difficult that he leaves on his own, but just admit him". After Prajapati died, his family had filed a complaint against Prakash.

"Action has been taken against the doctor following orders given by the DGME. In place of Prakash, Dr Juhi Singhal will be acting head of surgery department. The three-member investigation team constituted by the hospital is conducting its probe and will submit a report soon. Drs Ajay Agrawal, Himanshu Yadav and Juhi Singhal are the members of the probe committee," said SN Medical College principal Dr Saroj Singh. A parallel probe ordered by the district administration and conducted by Dharmendra Singh is also looking into the matter. Singh had indicated that he will be submitting his findings within a week.

There was mixed response from the staff and doctors of SNMC about Prakash's suspension. A nurse commented on condition of anonymity that action against the doctor was justified because the audio clip had revealed the truth.

"Members of the district unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) extend their support to Dr Prakash," said IMA city president Dr JN Tandon. Members of the doctors' body have also written a letter to the state health minister and apprised him about the senior doctor's good works, Tandon added.