Sassoon forms new committee, SOPs for prison inmates after Lalit Patil escape incident
The education department had dismantled the earlier prison committee and on December 7 issued a letter to the hospital authorities directing them to form a new committee
The Sassoon General Hospital on Thursday formed a new prison committee following directions of the medical education department. Given the controversies surrounding the escape of drug kingpin Lalit Patil from the hospital, the medical education department also issued a standard operating procedure (SOP) to be followed by the newly formed panel for hospitalisation and discharge of prison inmates.
The education department had dismantled the earlier prison committee and on December 7 issued a letter to the hospital authorities directing them to form a new committee.
The new committee had been asked to have heads of departments and specialised clinical experts on the panel. Following this, the Sassoon has formed a seven-member committee, which will be headed by Dr Rohidas Borse, head of the medicine department at BJMC and Sassoon.
Dr Sanjay Gaikwad, head of chest and respiratory medicine, has been appointed as deputy chairman and other members include Dr Anant Bidkar, head of surgery department; Dr Girish Baratakke, head of orthopedic department; Dr Shefali Pawar, head of radiology department; Dr Shekhar Pradhan, head of dermatology department; Dr Nitin Abhivant, head of psychiatry department.
Patil, an under-trial prisoner at Yerawada Central Prison, had escaped from Sassoon on October 2. Patil was arrested from Chennai by the Mumbai police on October 17.
In October a four-member inquiry committee was established by the Maharashtra government had allegedly found ‘negligence’ on the part of Dr Sanjiv Thakur, former dean of B J Medical College (BJMC) and Dr Pravin Deokate head of the orthopaedic department at BJMC.
Following this, Dr Thakur was removed from his post. Dr Deokate was suspended and later arrested on December 4. The chief medical officer of Yerawada Central Jail, Dr Sanjay Kashinath Marsale was also arrested on December 4.
To date, as many as nine cops have been suspended, out of them two cops— Natharam Bharat Kale, police Naik and constable Amit Auresh Jadhav been arrested in the same case.
As per the SOP, if a prison inmate needs more than three days of hospitalisation, a health report has to be submitted by a three-member committee of senior professors of that respective department, to the dean of BJMC, medical superintend of Sassoon and chairman of prison committee. After every ten days, the prison committee should submit a report if the prison inmates need more days of hospitalisation or should be discharged to the dean of BJMC and medical superintend of Sassoon.
Other guidelines issued by the medical education department are currently under discussion and will be incorporated in the SOP, said, a senior official on anonymity.
Dr Vinayak Kale, dean of BJMC and Sassoon, said, given the controversy surrounding the Lalit Patil escape incident we are working hard to rebuild the image of Sassoon.
“The SOP will be strictly followed and monitored by me and the Sassoon superintendent. In case of laxity stern action will be taken against the respective staff. We are also working towards making a few changes in the Prison ward to bring more transparency and increase vigilance. Currently, there is no prison inmate undergoing treatment at the hospital,” he said.
