Amritsar, April 6
A high-level three-members inquiry committee comprising Dr J.S. Dalal, Dr Kiranjit Kaur, principals of Medical College Faridkot and Medical College Patiala, respectively, and Deputy Controller Finance and Accounts (DCFA), Mr Om Parkash Chaudhary, today reached here to conduct a probe into the charges of admission of patients to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital (attached to Medical College, Amritsar) on the basis of “fake files”.
Though the inquiry committee visited the medical college here on a specific complaint after the preliminary probe, which had indicted a senior professor of surgery in this regard, the committee felt that “fake files” were also prepared in other units of the government hospital attached to the medical college.
Talking to TNS, Dr Dalal said that it would take a long time to complete the probe as the matter needed a thorough investigation.
Earlier, a three-member committee comprising Dr H.S. Gill, the then Medical Superintendent, Dr B.B. Goyal, professor of surgery at Guru Nanak Hospital, and the DCFA of Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital in their preliminary probe had detected existence of “fake admission files” in the hospital. However, the Principal of Medical College Amritsar, Dr P.S. Bedi, while endorsing the contents of the preliminary inquiry had written to the Director Research and Medical Education (DRME) for conducting a thorough probe into the matter. The preliminary probe had mentioned a number of files, which were found to be “fake”, hence the DRME deputed principals of two medical colleges of the state and a DCFA for this purpose.
Meanwhile, Dr Jaswinderpal Kaur Shergill, professor of surgery, who was indicted for getting “fake files” prepared, alleged that the preliminary inquiry conducted by the three-member committee was biased, as it was ordered by Dr Bedi due to “professional rivalry”. She alleged that Dr Goyal, who was junior to her, was made member of the committee. “How could a junior doctor conduct an inquiry against his senior doctor?” she asked. She said the previous inquiry committee had not called her to cross check the facts. Dr Shergill, who deposed before the inquiry committee for about three hours, alleged that the professor and head of the medical unit could not be blamed for preparing any wrong files, as patients and resident doctors had been vested with such responsibility. No professor or head of the department had ever been blamed for such “wrong doings” as the staff of the Medical Superintendent, too, was involved in maintaining separate records.
It is being alleged that the preliminary inquiry into the “fake admission files” was just a tip of the iceberg as many officials of the Central Registration Office (CRO) and staff of various medical units seemed to be involved in the alleged scam.
