Priyanka Gandhi seeks fair probe into medical negligence at medical college in Kerala
Wayanad (Kerala) (PTI): Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday sought an impartial and fair probe into an alleged incident of medical negligence at the Mananthavady Government Medical College, where a piece of cloth was reportedly left inside a woman’s stomach after delivery.
In a letter to Kerala Health Minister Veena George, Vadra said the young mother suffered immense pain due to the alleged medical lapse, which could have become life-threatening.
She expressed hope that the investigation ordered by the district medical officer in response to the woman’s complaint "will be undertaken with fairness and objectivity."
Vadra noted that while Kerala’s public healthcare system has been instrumental in making medical treatment accessible to the majority, the Mananthavady medical college—"a vital lifeline for the public" in her Wayanad parliamentary constituency—is struggling with severe resource constraints.
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She cited inadequate manpower and critical medical equipment as key issues, adding that these concerns had been previously raised with both the central and state governments.
The Congress MP also pointed out that the absence of several specialities at Mananthavady Medical College forces patients to travel over 80 kilometres to the government medical college in Kozhikode.
"Unfortunately, the overstretched capacity of the hospital affects the quality of care provided and has proven fatal in the past," she said.
Vadra urged the government to ensure effective accountability and grievance redressal mechanisms at government hospitals, and called for an impartial investigation into the alleged lapse.
She also requested adequate resource allocation to the hospital so that it can "function effectively and deliver quality care."
"It is an urgent need for the people of Wayanad, who are still struggling to access quality healthcare in the region," she added.
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Kerala: ED files money laundering case in Sabarimala gold loss case
Thiruvananthapuram/New Delhi (PTI): The Enforcement Directorate on Friday filed a money laundering case in the Sabarimala gold loss case in Kerala, official sources said.
The federal probe agency's Kochi zonal office has registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), an ED equivalent of a police FIR, under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.
The politically sensitive case is already being investigated by a state special investigation team (SIT) under the supervision of the Kerala High Court.
In December, the high court had allowed the ED to undertake an independent investigation into the case after it dismissed objections raised by the SIT against sharing the case information with the central agency.
The SIT is probing two cases related to the gold loss incident and has arrested 11 people so far. The latest to be arrested by the SIT was Kandararu Rajeevaru, the chief priest of the Lord Ayyappa temple.
The other prominent persons arrested in the case by the SIT are Bengaluru-based businessman and prime accused Unnikrishnan Potty and former Travancore Devaswom Board president A Padmakumar.
The ED is expected to soon look for more evidence, question the accused, and it may also go on to attach certain assets of those involved if it finds that they generated "proceeds of crime", according to the officials.
The probe is related to a series of irregularities, including official misconduct, administrative lapses and a criminal conspiracy to misappropriate the gold from the various artefacts of the Lord Ayyappa shrine.
The investigation by the SIT, and now by the ED, is related to the loss of gold from the gold-cladded copper plates of the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idols and the door frames of the Sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum) of the temple.
The SIT has informed the High Court that its probe found "a series of serious official misconduct and administrative lapses on the part of the Devaswom officials right from the initial correspondence till the handing over of the door frame plates, connected plates, Dwarapalaka plates and pillar plates to Unnikrishnan Potty without proper authorisation".
It further said in its statement that Govardhan, Pankaj Bhandari, the CEO of Chennai-based Smart Creations, which carried out the electroplating of the artefacts from the temple, Potty and the other accused hatched a criminal conspiracy with malicious intention to misappropriate the gold cladded on the copper plates in and around the shrine.
"It is found during the investigation that all these criminal activities were part of a large conspiracy and an organised crime committed by the accused persons.
"They had a larger plan to dismantle other gold-clad items on the Sabarimala Sreekovil and to extract the gold from them for misappropriation," it said.
