How the Govt works and takes revenge.... Dr Binayak Sen

[Guest guest]

Many of us feel that law is above all in this country. Just read the

following Forward from Ilina to know 'How the Govt works - Chhatisgarh

Govt in this case and takes revenge- in the medical treatment of Dr.

Binayak Sen -jailed on false charges. Important is to know where this

will lead to.

 

vns

 

 

Dear friends,

 

I am writing to share some extremely distressing information that has

just now come to light. We now have clear proof that the police in

Chhattisgarh

are actively interfering with Binayak’s need for health care. I will

just go over the facts with you.

 

Binayak, hypertensive for many years, was diagnosed on 2003 with

angina upon stress after he underwent cardiac assessment tests with Dr

Ashish Malhotra, Raipur’s only doctor with a DM in cardiology, who

practices in a private facility. The drug regime that he was on in

2007 and later was what was suggested by this doctor. He began to

feel chest pain upon exercise,

tingling in the left arm etc sometime in Decembr 0f 2008 and in

January February of this year, when in prison. He informed the prison

authorities of this, and when nothing concrete was done about it (the

jail hospital any way has no facilities), he informed the court about

this. An application was filed I court on his behalf on 17.2.09,

requesting that he be allowed to go

for treatment to a properly equipped hospital of his choice,

preferably CMC Vellore, citing section 39A of the Prisoners Act of

1894, according to which

the jail Superintendent is empowered to send him for treatment to a

facility of his choice, subject to the the prisoner or his family

executing a bond and abiding by such conditions as the Superintendent

may prescribe. On 20.2.09 the judge (11th additional district and

sessions judge BS Saluja who is trying the case) ordered the jail

authorities to get the opinion of a

medical board re Dr Sen’s cardiac condition so that an appropriate

decision on his application could be taken.

 

Binayak was taken to the Raipur district hospital at some time between

20.2 09 and 17.3.09, where the doctors who saw him suggested that he

needed an

ecg and eckocardiograph.

 

On 17.3.09 Binayak complained to the court that no action had been

taken on his request for treatment, and was quite emotional when he

said that it did

not seem to matter to the court whether he lived or died. The judge

who had built up this impressive correspondence was equally upset, and

I personally

met him after the evidence was over and the accused taken back to

jail to convince him that a medical situation demanded something more

than just creating records. The judge seemed mollified and on the 18th

of March, asked Binayak in court which doctor he wished to see in

Raipur who could determine whether or not he needed an onward referral

to Vellore , and upon Binayak naming Dr Ashish Malhotra, passed an

order asking the jail to have Binayak shown to Dr Malhotra in order to

obtain a clear opinion about whether such referral for further

investigation was needed.

 

Binayak was shown to Dr Ashish Malhotra on March 25. On the basis of

the court order of 18.3, the jail superintendent requested the police

for providing security guards to take Binayak to see the doctor.

Accordingly, an impressive busload of armed police took Binayak to see

Dr Malhotra around 10 am, and I got a call from Dr M around 10.30

asking me to go there along with the old records. I proceeded to do

this, and thus was present for most of the consultation. On the basis

of the letter from the jail superintendent asking for a clear opinion

on whether onward referral to CMC Vellore was needed, an ECG,

Echocardiograph and treadmill test, he concluded that Binayak had

Coronary Artery Disease (CAD), and referred him

to VMC Vellore for Angiography for further ssessment, to be followed

by Angioplaasty/ Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery(CABS). I kept a

photocopy of

the prescription for my own records, since I was asked to pay for the

procedure.

 

I went to see Binayak in prison on the 26th, and to discuss what the

modalities of travel to south India would be. I was shocked when the

Jail Superintendent said categorically that Binayak would not be

investigated/treated in Vellore but in Raipur. Sensing that something

was amiss, I put in an application under the RTI act asking to see all

the correspondence between the jail and the doctors regarding

Binayak’s treatment. It is this last lot of documents that has just

come into my hands.

 

To conclude the treatment story before I come to this, the jail tried

on the 31st of March, to take him to Escorts hospital in Raipur , and

according to what we had discussed on my last jail visit, Binayak

refused in writing to go there, saying that he did not wish to be

treated in any facility in Chhattisgarh as directed by the jail

superintendent , as he feared that his life might be in danger. This

reply of his with a covering note that Binayak was refusing treatment

was presented to the court on the 31st itself, seeking further

directions. The court referred this to the public prosecutor asking

him to file a reply within seven days. To the best of my knowledge, no

such reply has been filed so far. Binayak has started on the new

medication prescribed by Dr Malhotra (Atorva Statin) and reports some

symptomatic relief.

 

To come now to the results of the RTI, I have now received Dr

Malhotra’s original referral letter of the 25th, but also a second

letter addresses to the Jail Superintendent, quoting a query from him

and dated 26th March, in which he gives his opinion that the

facilities for angiography are available in Chhattisgarh in Escorts,

Apollo, Bhilai Main hospital, Ramkrishna

hospital and two other places. He also writes that he referred Dr Sen

to Vellore because the latter asked him for it. The problems with this

are as follows:

 

- Why was this second query sent from the jail to Dr Malhotra ? If the

jail superintendent sent such a letter, who was breathing down his

neck to do so?

 

- This clearly constitutes total disregard for the court. The mandate

to Dr M as specified by the court was to give a clear opinion about

whether referral to Vellore was needed or not. The court did not ask

Dr M about the length and breadth of medical facilities in

Chhattisgarh.

 

- Dr M was obviously under pressure when he said that he had referred

Binayak to Vellore because the latter asked him to do so. In any case,

what conversation he may or may not have had with his patient is

supposed to be privileged information.

 

- If a doctor not in the public sector payroll in anyway can be

intimidated to this extent, what is one to say of doctors in Escorts ,

Apollo etc which are private medical franchises set up in the medical

college (great examples of public private partnership, in which all

human resources are public, the brand name and the option of onward

referral are private)?

 

- Under these circumstances, Binayak is absolutely right that his life

may be in danger in any facility controlled by the state in

Chhattisgarh.

 

In fact I am now worried that as Plan A of the police / prosecution

(discredit Binayak and convict him in the legal case ) shows signs of

coming apart, they are now trying to resort to Plan B ( bump him off

while in hospital in Chhattisgarh by just asking someone to, for eg,

inject air into an IV drip).

 

I would like to appeal to all friends to ensure Binayak’s physical

safety, publicize this matter, write about it, perhaps appeal to

higher courts/political leaders ? It is urgent.

 

I want to end by saying that what we are asking for, treatment at a

hospital of choice, is not unknown in Indian judicial history. In fact

even from Raipur Central Jail, the Shivsena leader Dhananjay Singh

Parihar, in jail on a charge of murder, was sent at state expense to

KEM hospital Mumbai, Shankar Netralaya, Chennai and three other

hospitals for an assortment of ailments in 2003 . The police would

like to portray Binayak as the biggest internal security threat they

perceive. Are we going to let them get away with this ?

 

Ilina

 

 

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--

" Those who have the privilege to know, have the duty to act. " Albert Einstein

 

Dr.V.N.Sharma

http://canvas.nowpos.com/vnsharma