This is a moving and brave story of Ravina’s family, who fought back to avenge the death of their beloved daughter. The headline of this story is the name of the tiatr staged to highlight her death
It was a simple video on You Tube that shook Goa’sconscience but did not stir it enough. A family dressed in black – the father,mother and sister of 16 year old Ravina Rodrigues, recounting their tale ofhorror and pain as they saw doctors of Pai Hospital and then Goa Medical Collegebotch up a routine case of appendicitis. Their firsthand account that wentviral on Facebook with thousands of hits, touched many a heart but nobody wastalking. In Goa, the doctor is God and who can challenge God. Only this familydared to. And they succeeded.
A class nine student of St Joseph’s Convent in Nagoa, 16year old Ravina was an aspiring footballer. When she died her school sang her afarewell song but none of the local MLAs were there to share her family’sgrief, let alone extend a hand of support. Even the NGOs abandoned her family.
The family explored everything from promoting awareness andgarnering support for her cause via a tiatr called Miss Ravina, Somplem voSampoilem (Dead or Finished) to making repeated trips to the Goa Medical Collegeand the Directorate of Health Services, but the battle was far longer than theyplanned. “We had lost faith in our system and had faith only in God. If thesystem was in place, my 56 year old father would not have been forced to runfrom pillar to post seeking justice for our beloved sister,” says RavikaRodrigues, Ravina’s elder sister, “the only driver was the fact that since wefought our battle for more than two years we will not leave it half way,” saidRodrigues.
It took more than two years for Vasco police to prosecutethree doctors – Dr Shantaram Surme, Dr Shridhar Pai and Dr Dilip Amonkar forgross negligence leading to Ravina’s death. The medical board committee, headedby then health secretary Rajeev Verma along with Jt Secretary D G Sardessai, DrEmildio Gomes, Dr V N Jindal, Dr Pramod Salgaonkar and Dr Rajnanda Desai nailedthe accused on gross medical negligence for conducting operation forappendicitis without a proper investigation in the 34 page report, besidesother negligence and lies. “We waited for the medical report to file a chargesheet. Also, since the FIR was against a government doctors, we needed anapproval for sanction for prosecution,” said Vasco Dy S P Lawrence D’ Souza.
“One great thing about this case is that family members ofRavina have not given up despite knowing how long these investigations take andthat too against doctors in the GMC. The family fought till end and are stilldoing so,” said activist Maria Sequeira, who assisted the family to take caseto logical conclusion. “We have explored all means from filing RTIapplications, moving courts against sloppy police investigations and mountingpressure via social networking sites, to ensure that doctors are prosecuted,”said Sequeira.
“This perhaps is the only case of medical negligence in Goathat has reached the stage of prosecution. Many people have succumbed in theGMC and no one is bothered,” acknowledged a senior police officer.
Meanwhile, the family has filed a separate compensation suitin the Consumer Forum against Pai Nursing Home, GMC and Dr Surme. “We did notdeliberately delay the 5nquiry report of the victim. The entire process oftaking statements of all doctors, victim’s family members, verification ofmedical documents and phone calls of doctors was time consuming, says Dr. V NJindal, Dean Goa Medical College and a member of the Inquiry committee
The fight by Ravina’s family is like a candle in a very darknight. It is this fight alone that has illuminated the way for possible justicefor their little girl, who lost her life under the supposed care of those whotook their professional Hippocratic oath of saving her.
