PANAJI
Rane has instructed Secretary (Health) Sudhir Mahajan and acting Dean Dr Shivanand Bandekar to initiate a probe and submit the report within four days. In ordering the inquiry, the Health Minister has also raised questions of GMC’s Dean, Dr Pradeep Naik and his inability to crack down on such malpractices.
The announcement of the inquiry came on Friday after reports emerged that Dr Banaulikar had issued a death certificate that had his stamp from a non-existent private clinic in Santa Cruz. In the case of one patient, he had issued the cause of death as heart attack, but a post mortem later conducted at GMC listed the cause of death as liver failure.
Rane, who since taking over as Health Minister had said he wanted to work on making GMC a premier institute, and has now asked for a report on the allegations made by the health secretary within four days.
He also added that it had come to light in 2013 that a blood testing racket was active in the state-run hospital, but accused the Dean of not doing anything at the time about it. Pointing accusing fingers at the Dean, Rane said it was him who should have taken action at that time.
As a measure to stop private blood testing in the hospital, the Health Minister has moved towards implementing a system that would ensure all testing, including tissue and cancer testing, in GMC itself.
