Congress doctors discuss Assam’s burns case

Guwahati : Chief of the Health Service in Guwahati, Dr Tarun Gogoi has denied that his patient is in ICU with severe burns on her body. Releasing a health bulletin, an angry Dr Gogoi accused the media of spreading misinformation.

“My patient, Assam, has only 10 per cent burns. That is, only in three spots wheras you are projecting as though all the 28 spots on her body have suffered burns. This is exaggeration. Assam will be under observation for some days and I am confident in 2-3 days, she will be back to normal,” he said.

Concurring with Dr Gogoi, Dr Digvijaya Singh, who is visiting faculty to Guwahati, said Assam is a difficult patient to handle. He compared Assam with the other celebrated burns patient, Gujarat.

“In Gujarat, the hospital superintendent himself set the patient on fire and then used the incident to claim insurance and he succeeded in it as well. But in Assam, Dr Gogoi was nowhere on the scene when Assam was burning. You cannot equate the two, you see,” Dr Singh reasoned.

The reference to Gujarat’s case drew loud protests from Dr Nirmala Sitharaman, who accused Dr Singh of unethical medical practise. “When you are discussing Assam’s case, why bring in Gujarat’s reference. It is not in your jurisdiction. But if you wish to, why not bring in Delhi’s case of 1984 as well when Delhi was set on fire by unruly employees of your hospital,” she asked. She has demanded that Dr Manmohan Singh, who got his certificate to practise from the North-Eastern state, must direct Dr Gogoi to take care of Assam’s health on priority.

Surprisingly, Dr Digvijaya Singh revealed he sought expert advice from one of his junior interns, Dr Rahul Gandhi, who pointed out the root cause is Assam’s case history. “Assam lives with her six sisters and there are too many interfamilial complications there. Plus mischief-makers from neighbouring Bangladesh keep dropping in to incite trouble. Too complicated. I will prefer to play a larger role at the Delhi hospital,” he reportedly said.

Meanwhile, Dr Gogoi has criticised his superiors at the Delhi hospital lamenting lack of infrastructure to take care of Assam. “I have pointed this out many times that I need help from security personnel to take care of Assam. Since there is lax security, anyone comes and sets Assam on fire,” he said.