14 more doctors to surrender in NRHM case

After eight senior government doctors were sent to jail in the NRHM scam cases last week, 14 more doctors facing similar charges have to surrender before the special CBI court in Ghaziabad by January 17.

The CBI had filed two chargesheets each in two cases related to alleged irregularities, including passing of bogus transport bills for use of ambulances under NRHM schemes for reproductive child health, blindness control and Janani Suraksha Yojna in 2009-10. The agency investigated the matter on the order of the Allahabad High Court.

The then Lucknow CMO Dr A K Shukla, 22 superintendents of various Bal Mahila Chikitsalaya and Community Health Centres in the district, and four officials of the Health Department were named as accused in the four chargesheets. Dr Shukla alone has got bail in the two cases.

Purnendu Chakravorty, who is counsel for three of the doctors —- Dr Suman Bajpai, Dr CK Jaiswal and Dr Neeta Srivastava —- said that all other doctors facing charges in the two cases had filed petitions before the Allahabad High Court, seeking relief which included stay of the proceedings after the chargesheets were submitted against them.

The high court, however, asked them to apply for bail in the special CBI court at Ghaziabad by January 17.

The bail applications submitted by eight of the doctors, including seven women, were rejected by the special court on Friday and they all were sent to jail. Chakravorty said he would be filing bail applications on behalf of three of the doctors and they would surrender before the court before January 17.

Other doctors who are co-accused in the two NRHM cases and who also have to surrender before the court by the same date include Additional CMOs Dr R B Lal and Dr A K Chaudhary, superintendents of Bal Mahila Chikitsalayas (BMCs) Dr C K Jaiswal and Dr Suman Bajpai and superintendents of community health centres (CHCs) Dr A K Mishra, Dr K N Anand, Dr S K Trivedi, Dr R K Gupta, Dr M K Singh and Dr A K Pathak.

The medical officers at BMCs facing charges include Dr Sadhna Tripathi, Dr Kusum Lata Gautam, Dr Neeta Srivastava and Dr Maya Chaudhary.

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