It was only after the publishing of the news stories that made the authorities of the SKIMS to remain on tenterhooks. The two-member expert panel was appointed by Director SKIMS following a complaint about the wide use of the surgical items in the hospital.
At a time when the SKIMS has been caught red handed playing with the precious lives of the patients, its authorities in a bid to save themselves are making the low rung officials of the hospital scapegoats. Sources within the hospital told Kashmir Leader that the director of the institute was informed about the expired surgical items being used in the hospital three months earlier but there was no action taken over the issue. Sources divulged that some five years earlier, the surgical items worth crores were purchased by the hospital in immense quantity.
“As those surgical items this year crossed the date of expiry, same weren’t disposed but kept in the store,” said a SKIMS official. Sources revealed that same surgical items that were expired were sterilized and sold on the cash counter to the patients sans any remorse. “The fact is that the expired surgical items cannot be sterilized and expired. They had to be thrown out but they were used without even caring a bit about the safety of the patients,” sources said. It was only after the publishing of the news stories that made the authorities of the SKIMS to remain on tenterhooks.
The two-member expert panel was appointed by Director SKIMS following a complaint about the wide use of the surgical items in the hospital. The panel comprises of Assistant Professor Hospital Administration, Dr Haroon Rashid and Associate Professor in the Department of General Surgery, Dr Rauf A Wani. The inquiry was ordered following a written complaint by Head Department of Gastroenterology about the sale of expired equipment at the medical institute’s drug counter.
However, hospital insiders stated that if the enquiry is thoroughly conducted in a transparent manner there would be big fishes caught in the net including the helmsmen of the previous regime of the state. Finally, the Chief Pharmacist of the hospital has been asked to explain her role into the scam while leaving others involved scot-free. “The fact is that the low rung officials are being made scape goats to divert the attention and create a farce impression that involved have been brought to the book.
The reality is that it is an exercise to save the involved,” said a senior SKIMS official, privy to this development. He added that the onus of the sale of the expired surgical items lies on the higher authorities of SKIMS and also on the helmsmen sitting in the power corridors. “How could you declare a Pharmacist guilty when such a blunder cannot be carried without the go ahead of the higher ups,” sources said.
It was informed further that the names of the senior officials of the SKIMS are being deliberately exempted in a bid to undermine the seriousness of the scandal. ”Caring little about the precious lives, there is a delay being done to name the real involved and cosmetic measures are taken to make low rung officials the scapegoats in the entire process.”
