Jalandhar, May 5
Following an intra-uterine death (IUD) of a mature foetus at Sewak Ram Hospital here on Thursday, patient Tanu today accused gynaecologist Dr Vandana of offering her Rs 1 lakh to hush up the case.

Talking to The Tribune, Tanu further alleged that after the IUD, the hospital took several hours to start the process of removing the dead foetus from her body.

“During that time, Dr Vandana offered me money and asked to persuade my husband Harish Mehta not to lodge any complaint in this regard,” she said. Tanu said the doctor also pressurised her to sign a blank paper.

Meanwhile, Mehta said Tanu was discharged from the hospital forcibly on Friday evening even when she was not feeling well, and that too without the consent of the family members.

Dr Vandana could not be contacted. However, Dr Punit Pasricha, a son of Sewak Ram management committee secretary Dr K.K. Pasricha, denied the allegations levelled by Tanu and her husband.

Dr Pashricha said that why a doctor would offer money to a patient. “On the contrary, the family members of the patient were told that if they had no faith in the hospital staff, they were free to take Tanu to some other hospital for delivery of the dead baby,” he added.

To a query, he said that just an episiotomy of the patient had been done to deliver the baby and only a few stitches were made. After episiotomy, the patient is generally discharged within 24 hours, he added.

The dead foetus was buried at Harnam Dass Pura crematorium after its post-mortem examination on Friday evening.

Meanwhile, civil surgeon Dr J.P. Singh said a committee of three doctors comprising gynaecologists Dr Damanjeet Kaur, Dr Sarita and radiologist Dr Ashok Bhagat had started a probe to know the exact cause of the IUD. “It would take some more days for the completion of the inquiry”.

Jalandhar, May 5
After registration of a case under different sections, including 452 (trespass with preparation Zto cause hurt or assault) of the IPC against three journalists, the media persons staged a dharna at BMC Chowk here today.

If the police could register a criminal case against mediamen on Dr Vandana’s statement, why it is not registering a case on his written complaint against Dr Vandana for her negligence. —Harish Mehta

The mediamen submitted a memorandum to BJP MLA K.D. Bhandari, addressed to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who had come to meet the protesting journalists at BMC Chowk.

It was stated in the memorandum that the district administration had tried to attack the fourth pillar of democracy by registering a criminal case against journalists who had gone to Sewak Ram Hospital to cover a news report.

Apart from withdrawal of the criminal case against the journalists, it was demanded in the memorandum that the deputy commissioner and the senior superintendent of police should immediately be transferred from Jalandhar and the SP (city-I) should be suspended for registering the case.

The mediamen through the memorandum also demanded registration of an attempt-to-murder case against some doctors who had allegedly attacked some mediamen in the hospital on Thursday night.

Meanwhile, Harish Mehta, husband of patient Tanu, said if the police could register a criminal case against mediamen on Dr Vandana’s statement, why it was not registering a case on his written complaint against Dr Vandana for her negligence which resulted in the death of their unborn baby.

Jalandhar, May 5
There seems some hope from the state government for the bright students who have dropped their studies after completing their school education owing to financial constraints.

The Department of Technical Education and Industrial Training is chalking out a plan as per which such students are likely to be enrolled in the diploma or certificate courses in vocational training being run in government polytechnics or ITIs. Ch Swarna Ram, Minister for Technical Education and Industrial Training, Punjab, said this while interacting with the mediapersons at the annual prize distribution function of DAV Institute of Engineering and Technology here today.

The minister said government was mulling over the issue and the project was likely to be implemented soon for a five-year term. Regarding the issue of recruitment of the staff, he said that the issue would be taken up in the budget.