the goan I network
MARGAO
A day after dialysis resumed at the Hospicio hospital with the help of a power generator, the doctor who runs the unit, Dr Venkatesh, has claimed that the police have been harassing him as well as the generator owner by seeking details of the gen set and raising other questions.
Dr Venkatesh told the media that the police approached him in the morning and requested him to stop the dialysis activity on grounds that the fire department is conducting an inquiry into the fire mishap. “When I told the policemen to make his request in writing, he quietly left the premise. This only goes to show that the policemen are acting at the behest of their masters who are hell bent on harassing me and the patients undergoing dialysis at the centre,” he said.
Dr Venkatesh further demanded to know what right the police have to seek details from the DG set owner, saying the latter are only trying to ensure that the owner stops supplying the DG sent to the dialysis unit.
“The police is pressurising me to stop the dialysis on grounds that the fire mishap is under investigation. I would like to tell the police as well as other hospital authorities that the Supreme Court had in the past issued
directions to the government not to disturb the dialysis operations at the Hospicio,” he asserted, while saying his lawyer is drafting a petition to the High Court.
“If the government does not want me and the dialysis centre at Hospicio, let them get the stay vacated in the Supreme Court. It cannot simply send the police to pressurize me to stop the dialysis at the Hospicio on the pretext of fire mishap probe,” he said.
“Let the police, Hospicio Medical Superintendent, Director of Health Services or the government give me a letter calling for a shut down of the dialysis operation at the Hospicio. Such a letter will help me to produce the same in the Supreme Court, which has ruled that the dialysis centre at Hospicio should not be disturbed.”
Saying that the fire incident has nothing to do with the dialysis unit, Dr Venkatesh
said not a drop of water is seeping into the dialysis room.
“Around 15 patients each have undergone dialysis at the centre on Monday and Tuesday. They say the building is unsafe and want me to vacate. How can a 20-year-old building become unsafe? Their entire game plan is to get the centre shut down. In the last 15 years since the dialysis centre was opened at Hospicio, not a single death of patient has taken place in this centre,” he said, adding that around 32 patients are presently taking dialysis at the centre.
