No end in sight to cancer hospital row

thiruvananthapuram: the controversy over the allegedly illegal testing of a drug at india's largest cancer hospital here is likely to continue, with the government showing reluctance to book the guilty. a drug called mn4 was allegedly surreptitiously administered to 27 patients at the regional cancer centre between november 12, 1999, and april 8, 2000, as part of its clinical testing ordered by the hospitals director, m.krishnan nair. all the 27 were oral cancer patients awaiting surgery. they were given m4n or g4n injections before the surgery to see whether the drugs would be effective against cancer. the report of a one-man state inquiry by dr purvesh parikh has held that baltimore-based johns hopkins university had sponsored the trials. the varsity then conducted its own independent investigations and banned ru chih c.huang, a professor who headed the controversial clinical trials at the rcc, from undertaking any further human experiments on her own. but despite the pressure on chief minister a.k. antony, who is also chairman of the governing body of rcc, to sack nair, the government seems to be in no hurry to do so. even though parikh submitted his report almost 50 days ago, the government brushes aside queries about it by saying the cabinet is discussing it. reports here said when some ministers asked antony at a recent meeting of the cabinet to approve the report, the chief minister reportedly snapped back at them saying he alone could not do so many things and they too should try to read the report. analysts feel one reason why antony has still not acted is because politicians across different parties have chosen to keep quiet about the alleged scandal despite two inquiries condemning the trials as illegal. but the basic reason for the government's inaction is not too far to seek: nair's strong public relations, for he has friends in all political parties and even the media. with the exception of a few in the electronic media, not a single newspaper ever cared to carry an investigative piece on what happened at the rcc. "this issue is just the tip of the iceberg and if the government is willing to conduct a thorough investigation more skeletons would be found in the director's cupboard," said a doctor at rcc, who wished not to be identified. he said the controversy should serve as an eye opener for the government, which should curtail the powers of the director and implement a system followed at other cancer hospitals such as the adayar cancer research centre in chennai. "there should be three different heads: the administrative aspect should be handled by one person and the research and the clinical division by two different people. in such a situation the chances of playing with the rights of the patients would not happen," said the doctor. for now at least, nair is in no mood to step down, and it remains to be seen for how long he can use his proximity to veteran congress leader k. karunakaran to cling to his chair. the director's service has been extended thrice.