Cantt hospital abortion case inquiry draws blank, but insiders say it also recommends deeper probe
But insiders say it also recommends deeper probeu00a0
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More than a month after MiD DAY reported that a doctor at Pune Cantonment Board's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Cantonment General Hospital was accused of skirting norms to abort an HIV positive woman's four-and-half-month foetus, the gynaecologist has beenu00a0 let off after an inquiry by the state health department failed to find evidence against her.
On April 24, Dr Archana Gupta had brought an HIV positive pregnant woman to the Cantonment hospital in what she said was an emergency case. The doctor said the patient miscarried during the emergency procedure. The hospital staff alleged it was an abortion and the 20-week-old foetus was a girl. It was alleged that the doctor deliberately hid the patient's HIV status from the staff and also that she performed an abortion as it was a girl child.
Dr B S Kamble, officer appointed to conduct the probe, said that the doctor was let off as there was no evidence against her.
The staffers had told investigating officers that this is the second time such an incident has happened, and that Dr Gupta was involved in a similar case on January 30 as well. "The report mentions that a more detailed probe should be conducted as the doctor hid crucial facts," said a source. "First of all an abortion drug was given to both the HIV patients but if it was an emergency there was no need for this drug. She hid this fact that the staffers have revealed and needs to be investigated."
He added that the inquiry has also cast an aspersion on the doctor because in both the instances the foetus was a girl child. The inquiry report has given a clean chit to Dr Mahajan, resident medical officer and in-charge of PCB hospital, stating that he had no involvement in the case.
