A public interest litigation petition has sought direction from the Madras High Court to the State government to suspend or transfer the chief doctor in charge of Stanley Medical College and Hospital.
The petitioner, Jayaram Venkatesan of Mylapore, submitted to the court that R. Karthikeyan and 15 others who were suffering from renal disorder, underwent dialysis at the hospital. They were also getting ready for kidney transplant. However, in August 2014, Hepatitis C virus was detected in all the patients. None of them had the infection when they were admitted to the hospital.
Patients suffering from this infection could not have the transplantation procedure until completion of treatment of the infection, and their suffering prolonged. The First Bench comprising Chief Justice S.K.Kaul and Justice M.M.Sundresh ordered that the counter affidavit should be filed within four weeks. Rejoinder, if any, should be filed within two weeks thereafter.
Meet allegations,
court tells hospital
The court said authorities should specifically meet the allegation regarding contracting the disease during hospitalisation.
They should state what the test report at the time of admission was and when the virus was detected. If this fact was verified already, adequate compensation should be given to the patients.
This aspect should also be dealt with in the counter affidavit, if no compensation had already been paid to the patients, the Bench said. The matter has been posted for April 25.
