HAILAKANDI, June 23 � In a landmark judgment, two doctors of two private hospitals of Silchar town have been fined more than Rs 10 lakh by the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum of Cachar. This judgment was passed last week by the three-member committee of the forum headed by M.L Chatterjee and comprising members A.K Choudhury and S. Dhar.
The final judgment of the case No. 36/2008 has been passed by the forum under the Section 12 of Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
Dr. Akhil Paul of Ellora Nursing Home and Dr. Arunava Dutta of Redcross Hospital have been found responsible by the forum for the death of Debashis Mitra Mazumdar, 42, an employee of ONGC and a resident of Sib-bari road area of Tarapur in Silchar town. The wife of late Mazumdar, Anjana Mitra Mazumdar filed a case with the forum in 2008 regarding the death of her husband due to wrong treatment by the two doctors and also sought compensation for this.
It may be mentioned here that Late Mazumdar went to Redcross Hospital on July 17, 2006 for check-up as he was suffering from high fever. After studying the the reports of blood test and sonography, Dr. Arunava Dutta advised him to meet Dr. Akhil Paul at Ellora Nursing Home. Dr. Paul advised him to get admitted in the hospital for appendix operation and he was admitted for the operation on July 18. On the same day, he was operated on but in the complaint petition, it was alleged that on the next day of the operation, Dr. Paul had left Silchar. The condition of Mazumdar started deteriorating after the operation. He felt pain in the abdomen. After seven days, he was released from the hospital and again admitted to Redcross Hospital on August 30 for follow-up treatment as he was suffering from several complaints in the abdomen and was administered a few bottles of blood. According to the complaint, both the doctors had not paid any attention to the patient despite repeated requests by his wife.
Later he was shifted to Apollo Hospital in Chennai where doctors held both the doctors of Silchar responsible for the deterioration in health condition of Mazumdar. They also said that Mazumdar was unnecessarily operated on. After some treatment they had suggested Mazumdar to go to home for rest as his condition was extremely critical. Mazumdar eventually died on September 9 at his home.
After the death of her husband, wife Anjana had sent pleader�s notice to both the doctors but they did not respond and finding no alternative, she filed a complaint with the forum. The break-up of the fine imposed on doctors included the operation charges and other ancillary expenditure is Rs 2 lakh, Rs 8 lakh as compensation to the complainant and family members for untimely death of her husband and Rs 5 thousand as proceeding charges etc. The judgment said that Dr. Paul will bear 70pc and Dr. Dutta will bear rest 30pc of the fine amount. It also said that the amount of fine should be realised within two months otherwise ten percent interest will be included in the amount per annum.
