Hoshiarpur, June 4
Though Dr Rajiv Pangotra, a surgeon of Swami Premanand Hospital in Mukerian, was neither an authority nor a specialist in administering anaesthesia, yet he tried his hands on a patient which left the latter handicapped.

The patient filed a complaint with the District Consumer Forum, Hoshiarpur, and the forum gave its ruling in favour of the complainant.

The forum ordered the Swami Premanand Hospital, Mukerian and its surgeon Dr Pangotra to jointly pay a compensation of Rs 6 lakh to complainant Yash Paul Sharma of New Colony, Mukerian, within a month.

The compensation includes the expenses incurred on the treatment of Sharma along with litigation expenses of Rs 2,000.Sharma in his complaint said when he suffered pain he consulted Dr Pangotra. He deposited Rs 2,000 and thereafter, he was admitted in the hospital on June 4, 2003.

On the same day, he was taken to the operation theatre by the surgeon without getting his medical check-up done.

As no specialist doctor was present to give anaesthesia, spinal anaesthesia was administered by Dr Pangotra himself by way of injection, which adversely affected the operative part of the body of Yash Paul.

The lower part of his body became senseless and there was severe pain in the backbone.

“I became handicapped and incapable of moving due to gross negligence of Dr Rajiv Pangotra,” said the complainant.

The management of Swami Premanand Hospital and Dr Pangotra in their defence said there was no negligence on their part.

Dr Pangotra said when the attendants of Yash Paul were trying to give side to him, they lost control of hands which resulted in fracture of spine.

He said the disability of Yash Paul was not due to spinal anaesthesia.

The forum held that Dr Pangotra, who is MBBS, is not competent to give general anaesthesia to Yash Paul. If general anaesthesia would have given to him, he would have not suffered 100 per cent disability.

The forum further held that since it was not a case of emergency and one could wait, therefore, Dr Pangotra either should have arranged the services of a specialist to administer anaesthesia.

The forum outrightly rejected this plea that the disability faced by Yash Paul was due to the positioning by the attendants.

The forum said that Swami Premanand Hospital is vicariously liable to indemnify the act of Dr Pangotra.

Phagwara, June 4
In an incident, which exposes shoddy work at private banks, an unidentified youth reportedly succeeded in opening a new savings account in ICICI Bank here on the basis of a fake identity.

According to sources, the youth opened the account in the name of one Sandeep Kumar, resident of local Subhash Nagar.

Kumar had lost his driving licence a few days ago. The accused somehow found it and furnished it as an indentity proof before the bank officer Niranjan Kumar, who allegedly without verifying the document, opened a new savings account (63021) in former’s name. Sources said the youth even deposited Rs 2,200 in his new account.

The fake identity of the account holder came to light recently when the bank authorities sent an employee to the residence of the applicant to verify his particulars.

When bank officials reached Sandeep Kumar, the latter expressed his about opening any account with the bank.

Later, it was learnt that Sandeep had lost his licence and even lodged a complaint with the police.

Batala, June 4
A Batala woman has complained to the police that she was raped by an unidentified person on Sunday at behest of her husband.

Talking to mediapersons at civil hospital here today, Sarabjit (25), who stays with her parents after separating from her husband, said she was going to the market to get some medicines when some unidentified motorcycle-borne men forcibly took her to a secluded place.

“There my husband, Major Singh, was waiting along with six more men. An unknown person raped me in presence of my husband. The accused then managed to escape, leaving me on the spot,” claimed the woman.

The woman managed to reach her village, Lakhuwal, and reported the matter to in charge of Dera Baba police station, Harpreet Singh, who got her medically examined.

Sarabjit said she was married to Singh, a resident of Jourian Kalan, seven years ago. She has three kids from him.

The woman said she was not happy with her marriage and therefore had left her husband’s house. A case has been registared. Police are waiting for the medical report.

Hoshiarpur, June 4
Bus passenger Pardeep Singh, district information officer, Hoshiarpur, was duped of Rs 300 by a boy at Phagwara bus stand yesterday.

Pardeep Singh told The Tribune here today that when he was making payment for some eatables at Phagwara bus stand last evening a boy came and asked him if he could give him Rs 500 currency notes in place of Rs 50 notes.

He gave him four notes of Rs 500 denomination in lieu of which the boy gave him 20 notes of Rs 50 denomination. When he counted the notes, he found them to be 19 in number.

The boy took the notes from him for recounting and later added one more note to them and handed over the same to him.

Meanwhile, his bus started moving and he kept the money in his pocket without recounting it. When he reached Hoshiarpur and counted the amount, he found that he was given only 14 notes of Rs 50 denomination.

Jalandhar, June 4
Representatives of the contractual computer teachers met Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and demanded regularisation of their jobs.

The meet took place on Sunday at former minister Balbir Singh Miani’s residence in Hoshiarpur.

In a press note issued here today, adviser Pawan Sharma and press secretary Amandeep Singh of the Computer Teachers Union (Contractual) Punjab, claimed Badal had assured them that their services would be regularised soon.

There are about 8,000 computer teachers working on contract basis in different government schools in Punjab.

The union has been demanding their immediate regularisation for the past some time.

And the same was promised by the BJP, an alliance partner in the ruling Badal government, during the assembly elections.

Teachers held a protest at Sultanpur Lodhi on Saturday.