Allahabad HC: SRN Hospital deterioration linked to doctors' private practice; orders inquiry and chief secretary action

The court fixed May 26 as the next date of hearing and directed the chief secretary to inform the court about actions taken, including setting up a high-level inquiry into the functioning of Moti Lal Nehru Medical College and its attached hospital, and to monitor progress of SRN Hospital’s construction works that have remained incomplete for nearly 20 years despite funds released by the state government.

During the PIL hearing, Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal stated that the deterioration of Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital and Moti Lal Nehru Medical College appears not due to lack of funds but due to private practice by doctors. The court directed that the matter be placed before the UP chief secretary and asked for a high-level inquiry into doctors allegedly engaged in private practice at the college. It also ordered monitoring of long-delayed SRN Hospital construction works, and criticized UP Rajkiya Nirman Nigam for not completing two floors of the cardiology department (construction began in 2006). Dr Vinod Kumar Pandey, principal of the college, appeared and filed an affidavit; an affidavit from the special secretary, medical education, was submitted. The state informed that no-objection certificates for transferring 31,314 square metres of land to the college had been obtained, and the proposal would be placed before the Council of Ministers for approval.