I am reminded of a Hollywood film ‘A Few Good Men’ wherein the Conscience of a few men brought to justice a serial offender, who otherwise thought he was doing a great service to the nation. Kudos to SHO Ajit Kumar Upadhayay and IO Shri Bhagwan of the GK-I Police station who finally prevailed upon the all-powerful Delhi Medical Council to book a Doctor, a repeat offender under various sections of IPC through diligent investigation. Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj also deserves plaudits for his firm stand in getting DMC to finally work in Public Interest, to allow Police to investigate a doctor.
The story of Agarwal Medical Center has been extensively covered in Media, so not getting into details, this article is about how the Conscience of a Few Good Men could not be managed with underhand means. It is such men upon whom the entire faith of the common man rests, and one feels there is a Rule of Law.
E-Block RWA had been filing complaints for over a decade against Agarwal Medical Center for the Public Nuisance the residents were facing. This Nursing home is also illegal as per MPD-2021 in A&B Category Colonies such units can operate only on 60+ feet roads. MCD too turned a blind eye and needn’t repeat how it was obtained, we all know how the parallel system operates.
All complaints fell on deaf ears and residents continued to suffer, auto-rickshaws and siren blaring ambulances frequently brought patients to the nursing centre Day & Night when it was operational. Residents have never experienced such peace and quiet in the street ever since its closure, wherein scores of attendants of patients would squat on the ramps of houses, eating, chatting all day or night and urinating at street corners giving people a great sense of insecurity.
But to be honest, the miseries of residents’ pale in comparison to what has now come to light through media reports. Spare a thought for families of those who lost their lives or those who will never bear a child due to surgeries by unqualified persons.
SHO Ajit Kumar and Investigating Officer Shri Bhagwan have diligently pursued all leads and built a strong case that convinced DMC to finally issue a Show Cause Notice to the Medical Center, as to why their License should not be canceled. This too is too little too late, as it turns out DMC had always been aware of the Malpractices carried on as they had suspended the License on six occasions and all periodic inspections carried out were on paper only.
