The Kerala High Court on Thursday stayed for a month further proceedings by the police against Jilse George, the suspended head of department, general medicine, Government Medical College, Kalamassery, in the case relating to the death of the medical student, Shamna Thasneem, that took place last year.
The stay order was passed on a writ petition filed by the doctor challenging the State Level Apex Body (Medical Negligence) indicting him for medical negligence. Mr. George said that the Apex Body had forwarded to the investigating officer its report which had concluded that there was medical negligence by the doctors who were on duty on July 18, 2016 when the incident took place.
‘No experts’
The petitioner alleged that the constitution of the body was against Supreme Court directives. In addition, there were no experts or specialists in the State Level Apex Body.
It comprised the Director of Health Services, who was a paediatrician; Director of Medical Education, who was a radiologist; and Additional Director of Health Services (Vigilance), who was an MBBS graduate without any specialisation, the petitioner said. No reason had been stated in the report for arriving at a different finding from that of the District Level Expert Committee. The district committee had stated that the patient was given treatment despite lack of facilities at the hospital. The report of the Apex Body was a biased one, Mr. George argued.
Therefore, if the investigating officer was to proceed on the basis of the report, it would lead to miscarriage of justice.
He sought a directive to the investigating officer not to act or rely on the report of the State Level Apex Body.
