Jamshedpur, Feb. 2: As the alleged rape of a minor girl rocks the state-run MGM Medical College and Hospital, the state health department removed the superintendent R Y Choudhary from his post and assigned the job to A N Mishra, the principal of the medical college.
Confirming this development, principal secretary (Health), K. Vidyasagar said that Mishra will hold duel charges of the principal (MGM Medical College at Dimna) as well as the superintendent of hospital in Sakchi.
He went on to say that Mishra will continue to hold the additional charge till the appointment a regular superintendent of the hospital. �We are looking for a suitable candidate for the post. It will take a little more than a week to appoint a regular superintendent at the hospital,” said Vidyasagar.
Choudhary will continue to function as a teaching faculty. Chowdhury is also an assistant professor in the anesthesia department of the government medical college and hospital.
�I have been made the scapegoat for someone else�s crime,� said Chaudhary following his suspension on Tuesday.
The minor victim is undergoing treatment at TMH, while the accused 53-year-old accused Shambhu Mahato is in the police custody, as investigation into the case is still underway.
The police have maintained that it is collecting strong evidence to prosecute the accused as insufficient evidence might lead to the release of the accused without punishment.
“We are probing the case thoroughly,” said SP (City), Chandan Jha. The accused Mahato, a private security guard on duty on the fateful night, allegedly made attempts to rape the girl in the toilet around 9 p.m. on Sunday.
The victim, a resident of Pursudih, was earlier admitted to MGM hospital on January 26 after she complained of being raped by a local boy while she was playing with her siblings close to her home.
Following the complaint police arrested the accused and sent him to remand home and got her admitted to MGM hospital for the treatment where she again faced a similar assault on February 1.
Mishra, who completed his five-year tenure as principal of the medical college, said that he will take charge from Chowdhury late in the evening. “The notification issued by the health, medical education and family welfare department today directed me to take charge of the superintendent�s post till such time when a regular appointment is made.
I will try to discharge my duties of new office with utmost care,” said Mishra, adding that he would soon frame a plan of action for improving facilities at the government health hub.
Meanwhile, state health ministry sources revealed that apart from health minister Ramchandra Chandravanshi, Chief Minister Raghubar Das, who had inspected the hospital on Saturday, a day before the rape incident, too was not happy over the functioning of the hospital.