Pathankot hospital faces probe for illegal abortions

Ravi Dhaliwal

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Pathankot, December 21

A private maternity hospital situated at Narot Jaimal Singh has come under the scanner of the Health Department, following complaints of being “operated in an illegal manner and abortions being performed there”.

No doctor

There was no doctor when we reached there. Certain records, which have to be mandatorily maintained, were not shown to us. A committee member

Insiders said this development would act as a warning to unauthorised hospitals “to get their act together or face the music”.

Pathankot DC Harbir Singh forwarded the complaint against the hospital to Civil Surgeon Dr Rubinder Kaur and asked her to get to the bottom of the matter.

Earlier, ‘Good Samaritans’ of the area had pleaded with the authorities to look into its functioning.

Dr Kaur said she had asked Narot Jaimal Singh Government Hospital SMO Dr Ravi Kant to conduct a probe.

Dr Kant headed a three-member committee which conducted the inquiry. Sources said the committee visited the hospital last week and found numerous anomalies.

“There was no doctor when we reached there. Certain records, which have to be mandatorily maintained, were not shown to us. We also asked for some technical details which again they could not provide. Just one person was present and he, too, fled when we insisted on the records,” said a committee member.

Dr Kaur said she had sought some more details before she forwards her report to the DC.

It was also alleged in the complaint that the hospital staff were hand in glove with the ASHA workers. An official, however, denied this claim. He said the hospital had engaged some women on its rolls whose duty was to scout for pregnant women in rural areas for a monetary commission.