Scribes stress on action against rowdy medicos and IIC of Mangalabag P.S.

Posted on June 17, 2013 by orissamattersbbsr

Cuttack based scribes belonging to both the print and electronic media, in a signed memorandum to Orissa’s Director General of Police today stressed on action against medicos who kidnapped two reporters of Naxatra News from the medicine indoor of SCB Medical College on June 15 and tortured them in wrongful confinement for more than two hours. They also demanded stern action against the inspector-in-charge of Police of Mangalabag PS for discernible siding with the rowdy medicos.

DSC_0356

Members of the presidium of Media Unity for Freedom of Press (MUFP) Prasanta Patnaik and Subhas Chandra Pattanayak and coordinator of Save the Samaja Forum Pabitra Maharatha accompanied the aggrieved scribes in a major rally to Police headquarters. In absence of the DGP, the memorandum was received by Additional DGP Mr. Sanjib Marik.

tortured journalist briefs the ADGP

The tortured scribes, Chittaranjan Samantray and Debasis Mohanty gave a detail description of how they were shanghaied into wrongful confinement in a hostel of the medical college by a gang of around a hundred medical students and interns and physically tortured. They were forced to kneel down for hours and then forced to proceed to the same medicine indoor for begging apology before the indoor patients before whom on June 14 they had raised objections to what the house surgeons had said about the father of Samantray.

Samantray’s father was admitted into the medicine ward for treatment. The house surgeons pronounced that the senior Samantray had developed damage in both his kidneys and insisted that he should be shifted to a private hospital. Samantray was shocked, because no pathological investigation had indicated about any damage to the kidneys and he protested. This irked the house surgeons and they started rebuking him in filthy language. An embarrassed and shocked Samantray tried to capture the highly atrocious conduct of the medicos; but obstructed, he went to the unit head and professor of medicine, Dr. Siddharth Das and placed before him his grievances. Dr. Das rushed to the spot and investigated into the matter and as all co-patients of the indoor ward corroborated the allegations raised by Samantray, asked the errant medicos not to work in the same ward. This further irritated the medicos.

When next day, June 15, he had come to attend his father, his co-reporter Debasis had also come with him to meet the professor in his indoor chamber in matter of his ailing mother. Seeing them in the indoor corridor, the miscreant medicos jumped on them and whisked them away into the hostel, where they were kept in wrongful confinement and tortured.

The gory part of the incident is that the IIC of Mangalabag Mr. Shariffudin having come to the spot on SOS message from the affected scribe remained a silent spectator of the torture and willfully neglected to register the FIR filed by them and was later seen entertaining the miscreant medicos in his chamber and registering a parallel FIR filed by them in order to create a confusion in course of criminal justice dispensation.

memorandum

About 50 scribes, while collectively presenting their Memorandum, informed the ADGP that the same IIC is terrorizing them and urged upon him to investigate into his conduct and discipline him. Besides the two victims of medico-police atrocity, the memorialists included, amongst others, Pradip Sahu,Navdeep Das,Cittaranjan Mishra, Satchidanand Behera, Gopal Mohapatra, Matrudatta Mohanty,Prasanta Mohanty, Jyotiprakash Rao, Bikash Sharma, Abhi Mohanty, Amardev Nayak, Rajkishore Panda, Pratap Chandra Sahoo, Devi Prasanna Khuntia, Rajkishore Mohanty, Ch. Jagannath Patra, Satyajit Mishra, Saroj Kumar Mallik,Ajaya Kumar Das, Pabitra Maharatha, Prasanta Patnaik and Subhas Chandra Pattanayak.

The ADGP has assured to take suitable action in the matter and expeditiously.

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Medicos keep media persons in wrongful confinement at Cuttack: Action called for

Posted on June 15, 2013 by Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

When his father was an indoor patient in SCB Medical College Hospital, reporter Chittaranjan of Naxatra News, while attending him, came across such irregularities in the hospital management and health care that as a media person it was to him imprudent to ignore. He was in a predicament. He knew that it would be irritating to the College authorities as well as to the hospital’s medical staff if the irregularities were exposed and may lead to debacle of his ailing father. Yet he also knew that if he sloughs over the irregularities, his professional conscience would never excuse him. He battled against himself and finally decided to honor his professional conscience. He captured some evidences of irregularities in camera on 14 06 1013. This irked the medicos.

Today, at around 5.30 PM of June 15, when Chitta and a co-reporter had been to the medical college and hospital to attend to his bedridden ailing father, a irritated gang of medicos numbering about 30, attacked them suddenly and forcefully took them into confinement.

The wrongful confinement lasted for about two hours.

The reporters were threatened with dire consequences if the tapes on which visuals were shot yesterday were not handed over to them immediately. But the tape was not with the reporters as by that time they had already submitted the same in the bureau office. Their tormentors asked them to kneel down holding the ears by both the hands till they were released at about 7.30 in the evening.

On behalf of ‘Naxatra News’ channel, its editor-in-chief Basudev Mohapatra has condemned the hooliganism resorted to by the medicos and has appealed to media fraternity to unite against such attack so as to protect free press in the State.

Media Unity for Freedom of Press (MUFP) Presidium member Prasanta Patnaik is in consultation with other members over the issue.

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Bureaucratic barbarism set to shatter an innocent employee when he retires: Will the Health Minister intervene?

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

An innocent man who is to retire this month from a very low paid government job under the malaria eradication wing is going to be shattered unless the Health Minister or the Chief Minister intervenes to save him from bureaucratic barbarism.

One Abhaya Kar, whose mother was working in Ramachandrapur Primary Health Centre had borrowed Rs. 30/- from Kanhu Charan Panda, a lab technician of that PHC in 1995. Panda had given him the money as he knew him as the son of a colleague. But Kar did not return him the money. On persistent request, he had returned only five rupees and promised to pay the rest Rs.25 the next day. But, because he had felt embarrassed upon being pressed to pay, he decided to teach him a lesion while repaying the borrowed money.

Accordingly he cooked up a plan. He obtained a prescription for blood test from a Doctor and prompted Panda to draw the sample for the test while telling him that he would take the report the next day. Then he went to vigilance S.P. of Sambalpur and informed him that, for a pathological test, Panda was demanding him bribe of Rs.30/- out of which he has already paid Rs.5/- and is to pay Rs.25/- the next day in order to obtain the report.

A trap was laid. The vigilance police gave Kar Rs.25/- after sprinkling phenolphthalein powder on the Notes, which he gave to Panda on 5.5.1995 saying that he was repaying the borrowed money. There was nothing for Panda to disbelieve. But as he put the money in his pocket, the vigilance squad pounced upon him and recovered from his pocket the tainted Notes. He was arrested on charges of bribe and forwarded to the vigilance court and under direction from the vigilance police, he was put under suspension.

Prosecution commenced against him in the Court of Special Judge (Vigilance) at Cuttack in T.R. Case No. 293-2007 arising out of Sambalpur Vig. P. S. Case No. 09 of 1995.

The vigilance court finally determined that the case against Panda was a false case inasmuch as on the day of occurrence, i.e. 5.5.1995 Kar had refunded the loan amount which he had earlier taken from Panda. On this determination, the Court held Panda “not guilty” and acquitted him from the charges in its judgment delivered on 9.2.2012. Neither the State nor the complainant has preferred any appeal against the judgment.

But now when Panda is going to retire from his job on reaching the age of superannuation, and his suspension period needs regularization, the health directorate is eager to subject him to disciplinary proceedings for the same “crime” with retrospective effect from 5.5.1995!

The man had not committed any crime. He had helped the son of a colleague with a sum of Rs.30/-only at the time of his need. The man he had helped betrayed him by implicating him in a false vigilance case. This treachery was bare in course of hearing of the case and the court, in recognizing the reality, declared him “not Guilty of the offense” he was charged with and rewarded his humanitarianism by acquitting of all charges.

Yet, bureaucratic barbarism is set to shatter his retired life. If bureaucracy is not restrained from its design to clamp disciplinary proceedings on him for the offense he has not committed, it would be impossible for him to get his pension and other retirement benefits.

One of my readers from Dhenkanal who belongs to Bhapur, the village of my close relation late lamented Hadibandhu Pattanayak, which is adjacent to Koilipingi, the village of Panda, had sent me a letter depicting a detail picture of Panda’s case. I have verified the veracity of what he has informed me. This report is based on that verification and I am sure, unless political leadership intervenes, the innocent poor man is going to perish in his post retirement life under heartless barbarism of bureaucracy.

Will the Health Minister please intervene?

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Attempts to foil Health Minister’s assurance; only the rich to get safe blood!

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

In reply to an adjournment motion moved by Opposition Chief Whip Prasad Harichandan on 1st September 2012, Health Minister Dr. Damodar Raut had assured that Orissa would adopt NAT PCR system to ensure appropriate screening of blood to avoid AIDS from transfusion.

A boy of only 17 months was found infected with AIDS by accepting transfusion of blood obtained from Muncipal Hospital Blood Bank, Bhubaneswar. The news was broke by orissamatters.com in 8 July 2012 and Sri Harichndan had very ably brought the matter to the attention of the Assembly.

Dr. Raut in his reply noted that people of Orissa have made monumental mark in blood donation and from 126076 units in 2000; blood collection has reached 307022 units in 2011. People’s eagerness to donate blood to save the lives of fellow citizens needs be equally honored by the government’s readiness to supply safe blood to needing patients through proper screening. Therefore, Dr. Raut said, in a meeting on 22 August 2012 the Government had consulted all the Blood Bank Directors and Officers in a conference and had taken a decision to jettison the rapid test method of screening and adopt ELISA method to screen out AIDS virus in the Blood Banks.

As Harichandan pointed out that ELISA is not the latest technology to screen AIDS virus, but NAT PCR is, the Minister had appreciated the position and had assured to adopt the latest method; for nothing is more valuable than human life and moreover, as patients’ confidence in blood banks would diminish if AIDS virus escapes the deficient screening. He however had declared that the method being costly, the State would start with four major blood banks: one each attached to the three Government Medical Colleges and the Capital Hospital Blood Bank. The facility would be extended to all the Blood Banks of Orissa in course of time, he had assured the Assembly.

The Budget of Health department placed in and awaiting approval of the Assembly has made a token provision for replacement of ELISA with NAT PCR in the aforesaid four Blood Banks.

But, the Finance department has planted a rider that the cost of NAT PCR screening should be collected from the patients. If the rider is not dropped, only the rich will benefit; because the poor patients cannot afford the screening cost.

The present Finance Minister was the Minister of Health when deficient screening through old method of ELISA had infested the seventeen months old child with AIDS and the Orissa High Court had punished the state Government with cash penalty of Rs.3 lakhs for supply of HIV infested blood to the boy without perfect screening. When he is the Finance minister, his department is asking the Health department to impose such a heavy cost on poor patients on accounts of NAT PCR that it will never be possible for them to get pure blood through perfect screening!

Should the poor people have no right to safe blood? Should the latest and the safest NAT PCR screening for which the government in the Health department has put budgetary provisions on the anvil of the Assembly be available only to the rich?

Should the Finance department be allowed to foil the most welcome welfare proposal of the Health department?

Should the Assembly allow its own anxiety for safe blood to patients be steered into benefit of the moneyed men alone?

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Bhubaneswar scribes appeal for financial support to treatment of Jyoti

Posted on January 24, 2013 by Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

photo of jyotiEarlier in these pages an appeal from Media Unity for Freedom of Press for financial support to TV journalist Jyoti Prakas Mishra has attracted your attention. Here below is an appeal in Oriya:

appeal for jyoti

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Journalist in medical: MUFP Appeals for financial support

Posted on January 18, 2013 by orissamattersbbsr

Prameya TV person Jyoti Prakash Mishra, only 30 years in age, is in end stage renal disease with both the kidneys affected. According to Kalinga Hospital, Bhubaneswar, where he is now under treatment, the only possible remedy lies in kidney transplantation.

Rs.6.6 lakhs is the cost of transplantation and care as estimated by the said hospital.

The family of Mishra having no capacity to organize this amount, Media Unity for Freedom of Press (MUFP) has invoked the extended family of the fraternity and humanity to come to his rescue.

MUFP Presidium comprising Prasanta Patnaik, Sampad Mohapatra, Subhas Chandra Pattanayak, Rabi Das, D.N. Singh, Prafulla Das, Gopal Mohapatra, Sudhir Patnaik and Dwijen Padhi has appealed all lovers of Free Press to contribute liberally to the treatment fund of Sri Mishra.

The support amount may please be deposited in Account No. 20026001893 in the I.R.C. Village Evening Branch of State Bank of India for his treatment.

Drops of water makes an ocean, the MUFP has stressed in its appeal.

Let us all join hands to save a very young and promising media person.

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Venality may be a Factor: An Instance for Study by the Health Minister

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Fortunately for Orissa, the department of utmost importance to human life – the department of Health and Family Welfare – has come to Dr. Damodar Raut, a highly proficient and experienced minister, who can hardly be hoodwinked.

But I am afraid, it will not be easy for him to manage the venal mandarins in this department. I throw an instance for him to study. It pertains to the Chief Minister’s district, Ganjam.

A Very Grim Picture

Orissa has three government Medical Colleges, one of which, MKCG Medical College, is situated in this district. Being the most eminent health care institute in the CM’s own district, it is expected that the College must be having required faculty and facilities. But the reality is blatantly different. The Dean-cum-Principal of the College has written several letters to the Government seeking improvement in faculty position. I will pick up only one for analysis. It bears the despatch number 5970/MCB-2012/Estt-1 and is issued on 10 September 2012. It gives us the shocking account of how a super-specialty department like Endocrinology is being managed by a single person who is a mere assistant surgeon having no requisite qualification for teaching.

When “incidence of non-communicable diseases including Diabetics is mounting”, the Principal has said, the department is having not a single qualified teacher. The only teacher the Government had posted six years ago has gone back to his private practice at Cuttack the next day of joining and has not returned to work despite notices.

Serious Misconduct

“Dr. Sudhir Ranjan Pattnaik has joined as Associate Professor Endocrinology on Dt. 26.06.2006 forenoon on his promotion and transfer from SCB Medical College, Cuttack. Dr. Pattnaik has left his department on dt. 28.06.2006 and is unauthorized absent from duty till date. In spite of several requests and draft charges, he did not turn up. It is reported that he is doing private practice on the broad day light at Cuttack. The department was jeopardized since 28.06.2006. One assistant surgeon has been posted in the department which is not at all sufficient to manage the day to day routine work”. Thus has reported the concerned Principal to the Government in the letter noted above.

MCI Norms Blatantly Violated

As per norms prescribed by Medical Council of India, the department of Endocrinology is bound to have at least one Professor, one Associate Professor and one Assistant Professor in the faculty. But the Principal’s letter establishes that there is not a single faculty in the department of Endocrinology in the M.K.C.G. Medical College, whereas the mandarins in the health department have posted an assistant surgeon to man the super-specialty department. This indicates how blatantly the MCI norms are violated.

Joining Just to Grab a Promotion

As the letter shows, Dr. Sudhir Ranjan Pattnaik was transferred from SCB Medical College, Cuttack to MKCG Medical College, Berhampur on promotion to the rank of Associate Professor. He joined the Berhampur College on 26.06.2006 and left the College for Cuttack the next day, creating vacancy in the only faculty post since 28.06.2006. He has been in private practice at Cuttack since then and has not come back to Berhampur.

Official records show that “soon after his joining he applied for five days Casual Leave on ground of his father’s illness. Thereafter he is extending the leave from time to time on the grounds like urgent works and father’s illness, causing dislocation in teaching and patient care” The official records further show that, “His leave was refused and he was given recall notice by the DME&T vide his letter No. 13684 Dated 13.10.2006. But he did not join duty and instead sent leave applications thereafter. The Government sent notice again on 13.06.2007 vide order No. 15727 asking him to join immediately as his absence was causing serious dislocation in teaching and patient care. He did not care a fig.

Proceeding

This being serious violation of Orissa Government servants Conduct Rules, 1989, he was charged with (i) Disobedience of orders of government/higher authorities, (ii) Negligence in duty and (iii) Misconduct. The Government promulgated a Memorandum on 3 March 2008 bearing number 6224 that subjected him to disciplinary proceedings under Rule 15 of Orissa Civil Services (CC&A) Rules, 1962. The statutory ‘Statement of Allegation’ annexed to the Memorandum reads:

“Dr. Sudhir Ranjan Pattnaik, Associate Professor, Endocrinology, MKCG Medical College, Berhampur remained on prolonged absence without leave address after joining for duty on a promotional post on transfer from SCB Medical College, Cuttack. He is (the) only senior teacher to man the Department of Endocrinology at MKCG Medical College, Berhampur. He has taken leave, even if his leave has been refused and recall notice has been issued vide Notice No. 15727 Dt.13.06.2007. The unauthorized absence of Dr. S.R.Pattnaik adversely affected teaching and patient care”.

Proceeding Suppressed

This disciplinary proceeding is suppressed and Dr. Pattnaik has not been subjected to rigors of inquiry by the Disciplinary Proceeding Authority for the misconduct shown in the charge sheet. On the other hand, no step has ever been taken to demote him as he has not at all worked as an Associate Professor to which rank he was promoted.

Misconduct Rewarded

Dr. Pattnaik is a private practitioner in Endocrinology at Cuttack. Through a dubious process, he had grabbed a lecturer post in Endocrinology in February 1997. The matter had formed the crux of a case in the State Administrative Tribunal vide O.A.No.166/97 and the condemnable role played by the then Health Secretary Ms. Meena Gupta in obliging Pattnaik had annoyed the administration. A recall of this makes it clear that since the beginning of his career Dr. Pattnaik has a great clientage in his private practice at Cuttack, for which, just after grabbing the promotion by joining at MKCH Medical College, Berhampur, he had rushed back to Cuttack, whereto he was lobbying for a posting. The incumbent Secretary of Health has taken steps to make his lobby successful.

The Secretary of the department has moved a file to reward Dr. Pattnaik with a posting to SCB Medical College, Cuttack in the rank of Associate Professor in blatant disregard to the fact that by abandoning his post at MKCG Medical College immediately after joining, he has abandoned his promotion, as during these six years, he has not taken up any class as the Associated Professor.

As far as I know, as on today, the concerned file is on the table of the health minister Dr. Raut.

Whether he will succumb to the nefarious game the bureaucracy has played in this case or will reject the Secretary’s proposal with orders for enquiry into why instead of proposing for demotion of Dr. Pattnaik as he has not rendered any service in his promotional post so far, his posting to SCB medical College with benefits of promotion is proposed; and if not venality, which is the factor behind this move, will certainly be watched.

Post Fixing

A similar proposal is on the anvil, as per confidential sources in the department of health, for continuation of Dr. Bijaya Kumar Sahu in the Capital Hospital, Bhubaneswar, on his promotion to the rank of Joint Director, Health, Level-I. This is post fixing in favor of Dr. Sahu, who has been in the same place of posting for more than one and half decades. If not venality, what factors his constant posting in Bhubaneswar needs also be investigated into.

There are hundreds of instances where the mandarins in the Health secretariat have protected the black sheep and pushed health care into disarray through fixation of postings.

We may repeat an earlier observation that in the health department, “posts are being clandestinely auctioned and whosoever gives the highest click gets posting to his/her center of choice against “any available vacancy” in that center!

Innocent doctors are being transferred from their posts to accommodate the highest bidders and representations of the Doctors as such disadvantaged are kept pending for years till palms are greased for fetching a favor”.

With no change in the scenario and honest Doctors perishing in disadvantageous posts in difficult terrains for decades so that the dishonest ones that pay more time to private practice than their duties in government hospitals may stay in lucrative places, we had wondered, if humanitarian Doctors need godfathers in order not to be harassed.

In Service without rendering any service!

But the government does not bother. Dishonest Doctors earn huge money from private practice. They abandon their duties in government hospitals while continuing in government service. Like Dr. Pattnaik, they fetch promotional benefits without rendering any service in the posts promoted to. Their services are never terminated for abandonment of duty. They are usually regularized when they join in their posts of choice.

They stay in service even without rendering any service! One such example is Dr. Nishit Mohanty.

He belongs to the Orissa Medical Education Service and is a faculty in Nephrology.

But from the day one of his faculty career, he has not taken a class either in the college of his posting or in any Medical College under the Government. He is working in top private hospitals at Bhubaneswar and has a roaring private practice. Government has not taken any action against him.

He deserves to be dismissed with retrospective effect. But that is not happening.

If no action is taken against him till he reaches a qualifying age and stage for pension, he shall join just to get the pension and fetch fabulous amount of pension and gratuity and all ancillary benefits from the State exchequer.

Dr. Raut may verify the service book of this man and find out why the Secretary of his department has not taken any action against this Doctor.

I have given these samples just to see how the Minister reacts. You may keep it in the category of case study.

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OSEM MEMBERS DONATED OVER 50 BOTTLES OF BLOOD

Posted on October 8, 2012 by orissamattersbbsr

Members of Orissa Society of Electronic Media (OSEM) donated over 50 bottles of blood on October 07:in a camp at Soochana Bhavan, Bhubaneswar.

Information minister Mr. Arun Sahu and Khurda M.L.A. Mr Rajendra Sahu were present at the camp along with OSEM patrons, Prasanta Patnaik, Sampad Mohapatra and D.N. Singh. President of the organisation Amiya Pani along with Sabyasachi Panigrahi and other members conducted the camp under Bhubaneswar Blood Bank’s active cooperation and guidance.

A number of ladies also donated blood.

This was the second blood donation camp organized by OSEM. Last year it has organized a camp on 1st October 2011, the World Blood Donation Day during which over 100 bottles of blood were collected. The OESM has kept a target to collect more blood in the coming years. Besides organizing mass blood donation camps, members of OSEM also donate blood to needy and poor patients liberally as and when required.

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ORISSA MATTERS Exposed a Malady that reached a Remedy, thanks to Prasad Harichandan and the new Health Minister

Posted on September 2, 2012 by Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

ORISSA MATTERS had exposed a malady in Orissa’s health care sector, which, thanks to Opposition Chief Whip Prasad Harichandan and a number of alert MLAs and a considerate minister-in-charge has reached a remedy on September 1.

While investigating into how far welfare verdicts are being honored by the Government, ORISSA MATTERS had stumbled upon a milestone judgment delivered by the Orissa High Court a year ago on 28 July 2011 in the matter of compensation claimed by the father of a small kid of 17 months, infected with AIDS because of transfusion of unsafe blood supplied to him by a government blood bank in course of his operation.

In response to the case, the blood bank as well as the State Government had claimed that “safe blood”, determined to be so by screening in ELISA method, was supplied to the kid.

But the kid’s advocate Mrs. Sujata Jena had put up a tremendous argument. She had established that ELISA method was not efficient beyond doubt to detect HIV in its “window period” which comprise about three months from the day of infection.

If blood is drawn from a HIV infected person within the first three months of infection, the virus may escape detection through ELISA screening and may appear to be “safe” even though HIV positive. This had happened to the kid, Jena had argued.

Accepting her well researched argument, the High Court had come to the conclusion that the disaster could not have befallen the kid had the blood given to him on an operation table could have been screened through the “latest technology” called Nucleic Acid Testing (NAT) in Polymer Chain Reaction (PCR) method.

And, thus determining, the High Court had awarded a compensation of Rs. 3,00,000/- to the child including cost of his further treatment to be borne by the State, and had issued a mandamus that “the Government must ensure that in all Blood Banks, the PCR method is available to identify the virus of HIV during window period”.

But as is its wont, the government run by Naveen Patnaik did not welcome the mandamus.

Therefore, despite a bureaucratically constituted committee comprising eminent serologists and Professors of microbiology in all the Government Medical Colleges of Orissa having “unanimously” resolved on 25 Feb.2012 that the NAT PCR technology, being “the latest and foremost technology available in India”, “need to be introduced for screening of the blood units to reduce the gray zone period of Transfusion Transmissible Infections like HIV-I, HIV-II, Hepatitis-B and HCV”, the political Government ignored the same.

We exposed this malady in these pages on 8 July 2012 as it came to our attention while investigating into non-implementation of welfare verdicts.

It was a cue for other newspapers in Orissa to stress on the necessity of blood screening in NAT PCR method.

But to our shock, the Government wanted another committee to undo the 25th February “unanimous” recommendation of the committee aforesaid.

The new committee, wherefrom the experts of the previous committee were kept out, rejected the recommendation for NAT PCR method and resolved on 24 July 2012 to challenge the High Court order dated 28 July 2011 through a review petition.

Harichandan turned it turtle

As we again exposed this mischief, it attracted the attention of Sri Harichandan, the well erudite Opposition stalwart. With the Assembly in session, he headed an adjournment notice that came up for discussion on September 1. Government got the jolt.

In initiating the debate, Sri Harichandan completely razed down the 24 July decision of the Government in Health department that had tried to justify non-implementation of the High Court order for adoption of NAT PCR method for blood screening.

He cited National Blood Policy and many other referral documents including the 1996 Supreme Court verdict in Common Cause case to demolish the government stance reflected in July 24 resolution and castigated the government for the contempt shown to the High Court order and for discernible lack of concern for human life as is seen in its reluctance to equip blood banks with the latest technology to ensure that the bloods collected and supplied by them do not carry latent viruses of HIV-I, HIV-II, or other Transfusion Transmissible Infections like Hepatitis-B and HCV as happens in the “window period”.

If HIV and other killer viruses continue to spread from the blood supplied by blood banks, patients would fear to take blood transfusion and all the blood banks will collapse, causing thereby serious dislocation in health care in the State, he warned. Though the Red Cross is tagged to Blood Banks, it cannot bear the cost of NAT and hence the State must provide necessary fund for adoption of the method, he said.

Besides the fire his speech usually emits, he was so much his persuasive best in this matter of immense public importance, that, despite the 24 July resolution to challenge the High Court verdict, the Minister of Health announced that the Government will adopt the NAT technology to obtain safe blood for transfusion.

Stop all avoidable luxurious spending by ministers and bureaucrats and give primacy to blood screening by NAT PCR method instead of avoiding it under the plea of financial constraints, said Pratap Sarangi. Dr. Prafulla Majhi supported the demand for adoption of NAT technology in place of ELISA even as Dr. Nrusingh Sahu cited the cost factor in support of continuance of ELISA method. Dr. Ramesh Chandra Chyau Pattanayak and Alekh Jena contributed their input to the debate.

In reply to the debate, Minister of Health Dr. Damodar Raut pointed out that the departmental reluctance to adopt NAT PCR method was driven by, cost factor besides, lack of direction in NACO and NBTC guidelines.

But, he confessed, howsoever marginal be the failure in detection of HIV through ELISA, it is most unfortunate that a kid of only 17 months was infected by AIDS, which is being attributed to unsafe blood transfusion.

He announced to introduce blood screening through NAT method in the four most busy blood banks in the State, to begin with.

So bureaucratic bungling may no more stymie the latest technology and NAT should soon be in use in the blood banks operating in each of the three Medical Colleges and the Capital Hospital, Bhubaneswar.

For us in ORISSA MATTERS, it was a day of victory, as the malady we had exposed got remedied.

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AIDS: A Coterie of Officers use Tricks of Subterfuge against the High Court Order

Posted on August 28, 2012 by Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

The National Blood Policy makes it a must for the State “ to provide safe and adequate quantity of blood, blood components and blood products” (Objective 1) and “to make latest technology available” (Objective 3) to the blood banks for correct screening so that patients needing urgent transfusion would get safe blood.

But the State government run by Naveen Patnaik has failed to adopt “latest technology” as a result of which AIDS is spreading through blood transfusion in Orissa. Dependents on frequent transfusion such as thalassemia patients are more vulnerable to Virus 1 (HIV-!), Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) and Hepatitis B Virus (HBV).

After we exposed this phenomenon in these pages, various news media organizations have been harping on about the urgency of adoption of latest technology in screening of blood.

In a case of a 17 month old child who is infected with AIDS after taking blood transfusion, the Orissa High Court, a year ago, had not only awarded a cash compensation worth Rs. 3 lakhs to the infected boy, but also had made it a “must” for the Government to adopt advance technology, i.e. NAT PCR method in “all the Blood Banks” for blood screening, in order to ensure supply of “safe blood” to patients. Its mandate is in these words: “Therefore, the Government must ensure that in all blood Banks the Polymer Chain Reaction (PCR) method is available to identify the virus of HIV during window period”.

Steps to Implement the Court Order

This judgment had forced the State government to review its blood screening scenario in a high level committee constituted for the purpose under the chairmanship of Dr. Pramod Meherda, IAS, M.D., NRHM & Project Director, Orissa State AIDS Control Society.

The Professors & Heads of Departments of Microbiology in VSS Medical College, Burla Dr. Sudhir Kumar Ghosh, the Professors & Heads of Departments of Microbiology in MKCG Medical College, Berhampur Dr. Binojini Parida, the Associate Professors in Microbiology department of MKCG Medical College, Berhampur, the Associate Professors in Microbiology department of SCB Medical College, Cuttack Dr. Bimoch Prajna Pati, the Drug Controller of Orissa, Ex-Director of SBTC Dr. L.N.Hati, Dr. Mangala Pr. Mohanty, Hon. Secretary, IRCS-OSB, Director of Central Red Cross Blood Bank at Cuttack Dr. Benudhar Satpathy and seven other top functionaries were members in this committee.

Unanimous Recommendation for NAT

The Committee met on 25 Feb.2012 at the Conference hall of OSCAS. Its minutes disclose, “After thorough discussion on NAT PCR technology, the Committee unanimously recommended that the NAT PCR technology which is the latest testing facility need to be introduced for screening of the blood units to reduce the gray zone period of Transfusion Transmissible Infections like HIV-I, HIV-II, Hepatitis-B and HCV, as it is the latest and foremost technology available in India”.

The Sleeping State

Despite this “unanimous” recommendation submitted “after thorough discussion” by all the above noted illustrious microbiologists, serologists and other specialists in the Committee, the State Government did not wake up to the occasion.TTI continued to affect lives in Orissa.

We had to expose this monstrous negligence of the state to the most urgent need of the moment in these pages on 8 July 2012.

Shocking Mischief

Thereafter, on 24 July 2012, the Secretary of Health P.K.Mohapatra took a “meeting on implementation of NAT PCR in Blood Banks”.

To our surprise and shock, we found that all the super-specialists, serologists and microbiology Professors who, “after thorough discussion” in the previous meeting of 25 February 2012 had “unanimously” recommended that “the NAT PCR technology which is the latest testing facility need to be introduced for screening of the blood units to reduce the gray zone period of Transfusion Transmissible Infections” were kept out of this meeting and a Director of Medical Education and Training (DMET) having no role under the rules of business in the concerned matter, who was to retire from service the same month, was encouraged to lobby for the old ELISA method and to raise a bogus allegation that the High Court had delivered its verdict directing for adoption of NAT PCR for blood screening without being “apprised properly on the issue under reference”. And, it seems, such aspersions against the High Court was approved in the meeting, as is evidenced in its 1st resolution that reads, “ Special Secretary (Technical) H&FW Department, Govt. of Orissa will move file for filing a review petition against the judgement”.

New Tricks of subterfuge

It is seen from the meeting taken by the Health Secretary, that ,the Special Secretary of the Department who hails from the pool of Doctors, collaborated with the said DMET in confusing the issue with a downloaded document of Canadian Blood Banking Association “where it is mentioned that the HIV positive scenario is 1 in 2.7 million than ELISA”. The quoted observation is a conundrum and the Health secretary, before signing the minutes, has failed to notice this confusing expression. However, one is at a loss to understand when the Special Secretary with a downloaded version of Canadian Blood Banking Association was allowed to mislead the meeting, why had the Health secretary not wanted to know how the scenario is seen by Indian authorities on blood screening by NAT, specifically as India has a high prevalence of the killing viruses when Canada is almost free of these killers.

The Chilling Scenario in India

A research reported in Indian Journal of Medical Research (127, February 2008, pp 140-147) is captioned “Multicenter evaluation of individual donor nucleic acid testing (NAT) for simultaneous detection of human immunodeficiency virus-I & hepatitis B & C viruses in Indian blood donors”.

The research was based on the ground that “India has a high prevalence of HIV-I, hapatitis C & B viruses (HCV and HVB) in the blood donors but has yet to implement nucleic acid testing (NAT) in blood screening”. It had tested 12,224 samples along with their serological results obtained from representative eight blood banks in India and had submitted its findings to the Journal on 26 September 2006.

Luminaries in the field namely R.N.Makroo, N. Choudhury, L. Jagannathan, M. Parihar-Malhotra, V. Raina, R. K. Chaudhary, N. Marwaha, N. K. Bhatia, and A. K. Ganguli had conducted the research that the Department of Transfusion Medicine, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi, had patronized.

They reported, “Data from our study suggested that the NAT yield for all three viruses (HIV, HCV and HVB) in India could be 29 times higher than that observed in Japan, and higher for HIV-I alone. Our observed HIV-I yield was over 515 times that observed in the US and Canada, 89 times that observed in Italy”.

So, citing a report of Canada where the prevalence of HIV-I is 515 times less than India, to frustrate the “unanimous recommendation” of the earlier committee, is not only low on merit but also is a mischievous attempt to mislead the Government.

The study cited above has concluded that its “observed NAT yield for all three viruses was 1 in 1528. This study was conducted in 2006. Now the 1 has become 3 inasmuch as every blood unit is becoming 3 units of blood products viz. platelet, plasma and pack cell. This means, if the virus was escaping EISA test in one out of 1528 samples, it would be read as three escapes in 1528 samples. This estimation relates to 2006 when HIV-I was not as wide spread as it is today. So, in every 1528 cases, it can be safely said that multiples of three cases of HIV-I infection are not being detected through screening in ELISA method.

In Orissa, blood collection has reached 3 lakh units per year. Divided into the three categories, i.e. platelet, plasma and pack cell, the total collection becomes 9 lakh units. If the 2006 study is applied to this volume of 9 lakh units, at least 1767 transfusion takers are possibly getting AIDS infected with the virus escaping detection, as ELISA is not efficient to detect the virus during the “window period”.

Orissa has 81 blood banks out of which 56 are running under joint banner of the state government and Red Cross whereas only one blood bank functions directly under the Government. rest are privately managed. Out of all these 81 blood banks the ELISA facility is also not available in 23 blood banks. After we exposed the malady, the government has ascertained through review that these blood banks having no ELISA facility are using rapid test kits to detect AIDS virus! The meeting held on 24 July under chairmanship of the Health Secretary (where he was in fact not even present) has noted this in its resolution No.2 and suggested that “No blood bank should procure any rapid test kit for hepatitis B & hepatitis C and HIV at their level”. The rapid test is a method through which the viruses escape detection. Taken into consideration, this makes it clear that non-detection of AIDS virus is alarmingly rampant in Orissa.

Yet, the mandarines in the health department have kept the High Court oder for adoption of NAT PCR method inoperative and are conniving to go in litigation against the said order.

Just imagine, how unsafe is Orissa .

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