Mallya Hospital panel to probe Vidwath's discharge summary

The Mallya Hospital administration has launched a probe into the controversial discharge summary of Vidwath L, after the doctor who treated him was criticised by the High Court of Karnataka.

The hospital's plastic surgeon, Dr Anand, had signed the discharge summary of Vidwath, who was brutally thrashed by Mohammed Nalapad Haris - son of Shantinagar MLA N A Haris - and his associates in a brawl at Farzi Cafe in UB City.

Hospital CEO Commodore Indru Wadhwani told DH that its ethics committee had met and will investigate the matter.

"Dr Anand is very much part of the panel of doctors at the hospital. He's not being terminated as mentioned in some media reports. There's a procedure in investigating such matters and the hospital is just following it," Wadhwani said.

Rejecting Nalapad's bail plea on Wednesday, high court Justice Sreenivas Harish Kumar had made some observations about the controversial discharge sheet in his order.

"In my opinion, the doctor who has issued the discharge summary appears to have exceeded his limits," Justice Kumar had said.

"It is very pertinent to mention here that the very same doctor goes to the extent of giving a statement about the fitness of Vidwath. He has
also given a statement that Vidwath has been tutored to
delay in giving a statement before the police.

"If these statements of the doctor are taken into consideration, obliviously a question arises as to what is the interest that he has in giving these statements? Is he expected to give such statements?

"The discharge summary shows that at least three to four doctors attended to the patient. When those doctors kept quiet, why did Dr Anand show interest in giving statements and writing something in his discharge summary, which is not expected to find a place in it?

"Whether this Dr Anand was authorised to give the discharge summary is also disputed by the special public prosecutor. All these events only show that the doctor might have been under the influence of the petitioner (Nalapad) or his men. This is one way of tampering with evidence," the judge said, adding that the explanations by Nalapad's council on the discharge summary will be of no avail.

Dr Anand's discharge summary was available with Haris before Vidwath could access it. The MLA promptly posted it on his Facebook page.

The special public prosecutor argued over the MLA accessing the discharge summary in the court, claiming that Dr Anand is the brother of one of Haris' close associates.

DH News Service