Ex-JJ Hospital dean Dr Lahane found guilty of unauthorised surgeries

Mumbai: A three-member committee constituted by the dean of JJ Hospital has found Dr T P Lahane, former dean and ex-director of the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER), guilty of performing surgeries in the hospital without any government orders.

The committee, headed by the hospital’s medical superintendent, conducted a thorough examination of CCTV footage and medical records to find that Dr Lahane had done 698 surgeries without government authorisation. The committee was constituted last week and submitted its report on June 12.

The investigation uncovered that Dr Lahane had been operating in the hospital’s ophthalmology department after his retirement as DMER director and before assuming the role of coordinator of the state’s Preventable Blindness-Free Maharashtra Mission.

As a result of the findings, the hospital intends to issue a notice to Dr Ragini Parekh, the head of the department (HoD) during this period, seeking an explanation on why she allowed Dr Lahane to perform surgeries and see patients without proper authorisation. “Why should action not be taken against her and Dr Lahane for this?” questioned a senior official from JJ Hospital.

A previous inquiry by the hospital had revealed that Dr Lahane’s son, Dr Sumeet Lahane, had also been seeing patients and conducting surgeries despite not holding a position in JJ Hospital. Notably, one of these cases involved a surgery on a prisoner, a medico-legal case. The dean had sent a notice to Dr Parekh, seeking an explanation on why she had permitted such actions without government orders and why an FIR should not be lodged against her and Dr Sumeet for this.

“Since she has not responded, we will send Dr Parekh a reminder notice,” a senior official stated. “If she does not respond, we will seek the higher authorities’ guidance on what should be done.”

The recent developments are the culmination of a controversy that began on May 22 when 28 ophthalmology resident doctors wrote to the dean, alleging that Dr Lahane, despite lacking an official post, had been conducting eye surgeries alongside HoD Dr Parekh to the detriment of residents’ training and academic activities. This was deemed to be in violation of the National Medical Commission (NMC) guidelines at multiple levels. The Medical Association of Resident Doctors declared an indefinite strike in support of the ophthalmology residents.

In response, Dr Parekh applied for voluntary retirement, and seven honorary doctors from the department resigned. On June 3, the medical education department accepted the resignations and appointed Dr Ravi Chavan, a professor of ophthalmology from IGGMC Nagpur, as the new head of the JJ ophthalmology department. Four honorary doctors were also appointed.

When questioned by HT, Dr Lahane claimed that the committee’s findings were not correct. “I was given orders by the chief minister to coordinate the Preventable Blindness-Free Maharashtra Mission and use all the facilities of the medical education and health and family welfare departments along with those of social justice and tribal development,” he said. “Thus, I was examining and operating patients at JJ Hospital, as it comes under the medical education department.”

Dr Lahane added that all the monthly reports of the activities were sent to the dean’s office, director’s office and health director every month. “In the same period, we did eye camps as well, including a camp In Nagpur, which was inaugurated by the deputy chief minister,” he pointed out.