Temporary relief until next date of hearing on July 17
MARGAO
Hospicio dialysis unit owner Dr Venkatesh R has received a temporary relief from the Bombay High Court which has directed the government not to disturb the existing arrangement at the Hospicio dialysis unit till the next date of hearing on July 17.
The High Court has issued the direction after Dr Venkatesh had knocked its doors after the Director of Health Services made an abortive bid to shut down the unit after the incident of fire.
The High Court is believed to have clubbed the petition filed by Dr Ventakesh with the public interest litigation pertaining to the long-delayed district hospital which is under construction.
In his petition, Dr Venkatesh had prayed to the court to issue direction for the immediate reconnection of electricity to the dialysis unit at Hospicio. He had further prayed for an impartial judicial inquiry into the fire incident and reconnection of the inverter for the dialysis unit pending hearing and disposal of the petition.
Dr Venkatesh had also prayed that an amount of Rs 25 lakh be paid to him for the loss of consumables /injections gutted in the fire which were need for the dialysis process. He made a plea to the court to issue directions to post necessary security personnel round the clock for the safety of the dialysis patients, staff and equipments.
“It is the responsibility of the government to install proper fire fighting equipment and fire retardant wiring/gadgets in the dialysis unit to safeguard the lives of the patients and expensive medical gadgets and materials,” Dr Venkatesh stated in his petition. The dialysis treatment was started as a pilot project in response to the dire situation wherein multiple cases of renal failures were reported from Canacona taluka.
The dialysis centre was in the news last month after it was engulfed by a raging fire, destroying property worth lakhs of rupees. The episode took a new twist after power supply to the dialysis unit was disconnected by Hospicio, only to be reconnected by Dr Venkatesh from the water plant atop the building.
That’s not all. While the Director of Health Services had offered to treat the 32 patients taking dialysis at Hospicio at private hospitals, the latter, however, insisted that they would prefer to undergo treatment administered by Dr Venkatesh.
