Sion Hospital doctors to face action for turning away child

Two days after middays exposeacute of Sion hospitals refusal to admit a threeyearold girl bleeding from her private parts the Mumbai police registered a suo moto FIR under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences POCSO Act 2012While the directives to take action against Sion hospital came from Additional Commissioner of Police Manoj Lohiyas office the Shivaji Nagar police station has also submitted an investigation report to Lohiya calling out the lethargy of the doctors who failed to follow the POCSO Acts stringent rules The doctors are slated to face severe actionOn Wednesday evening the medical officer at the casualty ward of Sion hospital one of the three centres for survivors of sexual violence in the city refused to admit the child whose parents claimed she had been sexually assaulted He said an FIR needed to be registered before a medical examination could ascertain their claim This is a violation of the POSCO Act which states that an FIR is not mandatory to initiate a medical examination or treatmentThe parents accompanied by SubInspector Rupali Gorat were asked to head to Rajawadi Hospital After several hours the anxious family changed its stance This time the parents said that their daughter had suffered a minor injury while playing at home with her 14yearold cousinWhile doctors at Rajawadi Hospital claimed that they couldnt conduct the examination because the parents backtracked from their complaint police said thats not true Officers said the doctor at Rajawadi refused to take the risk of admitting a patient referred by a tertiary care civic facilityCousin in remand homeAfter middays report on April 1 Lohiya directed officials to launch a fresh investigation and asked the Shivaji Nagar police station to file an FIR The suo moto FIR was filed the same day with Gorat as complainant under POCSO Act rules The police officials also took the 14yearold cousin of the victim into custody and sent him to the Dongri remand home after being produced in court the same day While the assault had taken place on Wednesday a medical examination of the child was done 72 hours later at Sion hospitalAssistant police inspector Suresh More the investigating officer said their probe report has been submitted to the additional police commissioners office notifying him about the failure on the part of the hospital in attending to a sensitive matter We are awaiting instructions from our senior officials regarding action to be taken against the doctorsSenior doctors from Sion Hospital explained the spiralling downfall of the centre which has never failed to attend to cases under the POCSO Act The hospital also doesnt have a nodal officer supposed to look after sexual assault cases of minorsThe previous officer Dr Rajesh Dhere was removed from the post and transferred to KEM Hospital since he was due for a promotion Sadly the current HoD of forensic medicine is neither taking the responsibility of being the nodal officer nor is there any other forensic professor who is eligible for the post The failure of the HoD to handle one of the busiest and most efficient nodal centres is essentially the cause of this slipup has come to light said a doctor Dr Suleman Merchant dean of the hospital refused to comment on the issue