Court pulls up state govt for ills afflicting PMCH

PATNA: A division bench of the Patna High Court, comprising Justice Shashank Kumar Singh and Justice S K Katriar, while hearing a PIL on Wednesday about malfunctioning of the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), pulled up the government for allowing this premier institute to go to the seeds. The bench also asked all encroachments in the premises to be removed ruthlessly.
The bench deliberated on the report of a committee formed by it earlier to inquire into the state of affairs at the PMCH and asked the government officers to act in the interest of the society.
The bench observed that it is a question of life and death and the PMCH needs to be resuscitated urgently. The bench also nominated the senior-most secretary among those present, P N Narayan, to be a member of the monitoring committee.
Secretary of the PHED PN Naraynan, secretary of urban development department KK Pandey, director-in-chief Anil Kumar, administrator of PMC AB Prasad, superintendent of PMCH AP Singh and Patna DM Deepak Prasad were also present in the courtroom.
The government counsel Alamdar Hussain produced the report of the senior SP of Patna stating that the encroachments have been removed and that the officer-in-charge of Pirbahore has been instructed to keep the premises free from it.
Hussain also submitted the report of the PHED claiming that the department is up to its job and is blameless.
Lawyers rose up to contradict the Alamdar report on the condition of the PMCH and said that it is cursory.
The malaise, in fact, is much deeper with no medicine, no care and no emergency service. The doctors have made it a hunting ground for tapping patients for their private practice and is a death trap, the lawyers added. Calling for weekly monitoring, the lawyers said it is a shame.
Secretary of the medical education Afzal Amanullah on Wednesday informed that the Central government has given a grant of Rs 7 crore to the PMCH for its revamp. However, he blamed the doctors and the employees for the deterioration in the PMCH stating that they hardly come on time and attend on patients.
Amanullah said that the government has formed a committee to monitor the punctuality, discipline and attendance of doctors in Patna and all other divisions of the state. He blamed the employees for inhygiene, who refused to do their work and added that now it is being outsourced.
Amanullah also blamed the lack of professors for hampering the functioning of medical colleges in general. He said that there are 75 vacant posts of professors in the medical colleges in the state.
The urban secretary said that his department had drawn up a series of measures to spruce up the buildings but the finance department froze the expenditure. Justice Katriar reminded him that the freeze was on disbursement and not on incurring expenditure.
IPS officer’s salary issue: A division bench of the Patna High Court, comprising Chief Justice Ravi S Dhavan and Justice Shashank Kumar Singh, on Wednesday took a serious view of the government dragging its feet on petty issues like payment of admitted salary of an IPS officer Ajay Verma.
The bench directed the state government to pay up the admitted salary dues of Verma. The government owes Verma more than Rs 5 lakh in salary. The bench also took exception to the non-payment of deputation allowance to Verma while he was in the Bihar State Electricity Board. The bench observed that this is a witness to the sloth and indolence prevailing in the government. It was also surprised that the state government was choosing to question a presidential notification relating to payment of deputation allowance.