Punjab Govt Suspends Jalandhar Hospital Doctors, Dismisses House Surgeon

Chandigarh: Punjab government on Wednesday dismissed the house surgeon from service and suspended medical superintendent, senior medical officer and a consultant anaesthesiologist of the Jalandhar civil hospital where three patients, who were on ventilator, died due to disruption in the oxygen supply on July 27, last.

Punjab health minister Balbir Singh said that the action against the doctors followed the report of a probe team that established gross negligence on their part. While the medical superintendent Dr Raj Kumar, senior medical officer Dr Surjit Singh and a consultant anaesthesiologist Dr Sonakshi had been suspended, the services of the house surgeon Dr Shaminder Singh, have been terminated.

The team held that instead of a technician overseeing the oxygen plant, a contractual ward attendant, who is a non-technical employee, was on duty when the fault occurred in the plant disrupting the oxygen supply for more than 25 minutes.

The ward attendant was ill-equipped to handle the exigency. This led to the death of the three critically ill patients who were admitted in the trauma centre, the team found out.

The health minister also said that a detailed inquiry would be conducted and the other three doctors will also be dismissed from service and they will lose all retirement benefits, if found guilty.