BJP-Linked Firm Which Supplied Industrial-Grade Gas to BHU Hospital Did Not Have License

The firm that supplied industrial-grade gas to the Sir Sunderlal Hospital of the Banaras Hindu University where an unusually large number of deaths took place in the surgery department did not have the license to supply gases for medical purposes, an RTI query has revealed. The company’s director is said to be the father of Harshwardhan Bajpai, the BJP MLA from North Allahabad.

Despite a joint probe report of state and centre that made the revelation that the hospital was administering industrial-grade gas to patients undergoing surgery, the university is not ready to acknowledge it and is alleging that attempts are being made to “malign” its image.

The investigation carried out by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) and the Food Safety and Drugs Administration (UP) revealed that “non-pharmacopoeial grade nitrous oxide” was being used in the anaesthesia department of the hospital. The probe was conducted after the unusual number of deaths that took place in the surgery department of the hospital in the first week of June this year.

“The gas does not fall under any category of drugs,” said the report, a copy of which is in possession of Newsclick.

Joint probe report by State and Central agencies.

However, investigators are yet to conclude if the use of industrial gas was directly responsible for the unusual number of deaths that took place in the surgery ward of the hospital.

The investigation was initiated after an FIR was lodged at Varanasi’s Lanka Police Station in June, after the kin of a deceased person from Allahabad complained of negligence.

Interestingly, Parerhat Industrial Enterprises Private Limited, the Allahabad-based private firm that was supplying nitrous oxide to the hospital, did not have any licence to produce or supply medical gas of any kind.

“The said firm does not have a licence to supply medical nitrous oxide and medical oxygen gas,” said K.G. Gupta, Assistant Drug Inspector, Allahabad Division, in a reply to an RTI query by an advocate, Ravindra Singh.

RTI reply by the Asst. Commissioner of Drugs, Allahabad which says that Parerhat Industrial Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. did not have the license to produce medical oxygen or medical nitrous oxide.

Curiously, the firm also supplied medical oxygen and carbon dioxide. It is rather surprising that the company did not meet the standards to supply life-saving chemicals to the hospital.

Now, a question arises here: how did the firm get the tender to supply oxygen and the ‘poisonous’ gas?

Documents accessed by Newsclick reveal that a tender was invited for the supply of gases for medical purposes on June 9, 2016. The applicants were asked to apply by July 11, 2016.

Parerhat Industries Private Limited applied for the tender on July 5, 2016.

But the firm got the requisite licence from the Directorate General of Supplies & Disposals (DGS&D), the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, for industrial oxygen supplies only on July 20, 2016.

In other words, the firm did not have the licence for any kind of medical supply at the time when it applied for the tender. But the BHU administration awarded the tender to the firm despite the fact it did not fulfil the criteria for the medical supply of chemicals.

Contract awarded to Parerhat Industrial Enterprises Pvt Ltd. for the supply of medical oxygen gases at Sir Sunderlal Hospital, BHU.

The BHU has described media reports quoting the probe findings as “misleading” and an “attempt to malign the dignity, prestige and image” of SS Hospital, Institute of Medical Sciences, BHU.

“The matter is sub judice and under consideration of the Allahabad High Court. At this juncture, publication of such misleading reports amounts to an attempt to malign the dignity, prestige and image of the institution,” BHU PRO Rajesh Singh told Newsclick.

The Allahabad High Court had ordered an investigation after over a dozen patients died in the surgery ward of the hospital between June 6 and June 8.

Referring to a news item by an English daily, which had reported that 14 patients had lost their lives in the hospital between June 6 and 8, the BHU said it had “strong objection” to the report.

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