The Medical Council's investigation committee has submitted a report on the incident of death due to unsafe abortion.
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The Nepal Medical Council's investigation committee has recommended the immediate suspension of Dr. Satish Kumar Rupakheti. Based on the committee's recommendation, the Medical Council has also decided to suspend Dr. Rupakheti.
Council Registrar Dr. Satish Kumar Dev said that based on the recommendation of the investigation committee, the council's Zoom meeting held on Saturday decided to suspend Dr. Satish Rupakheti for the immediate period. 'It has been decided to suspend Dr. Satish Rupakheti for the immediate period,' he said. 'It has been decided to recommend to the district administration to close the Zonal Pharmacy and Indulekha Health Clinic, which were involved in the treatment of Geeta Pandey.' He said that action has also been recommended against the health workers involved in the treatment.
29-year-old Geeta Pandey of Baganaskali Rural Municipality-2 in Palpa died on April 20 while undergoing an abortion at around 14 weeks. However, Geeta's family has been saying that she was 12 weeks pregnant. The investigation committee's report has indicated that she was more than 13 weeks pregnant. Similarly, the investigation committee has found that the Zonal Pharmacy that provided Geeta Pandey with abortion medicine and the Indulekha Health Clinic, which was involved in the last-minute abortion, did not take approval for service delivery.
The incident in Butwal has highlighted the need for a serious study on the service delivery, legality and citizens' rights to receive services of private health institutions across the country, said Nepal Medical Council Vice-Chairman Dr. Kunjang Sherpa. ‘The doctors have been suspended for the time being based on the 2017 Code of Conduct,’ he said, ‘The action has been taken until the final report of the investigation comes.’ He said that since criminal charges may also be attracted during the investigation, the final action will be taken only after the final investigation by the Medical Council.
After the death of Geeta Pandey, the Medical Council had formed a 6-member investigation committee under the coordination of Dr. Samrat Parajuli, a central member of the Medical Council. The members of the committee were Prof. Padmaraj Pant, Dr. Rajendra Basyal, Dr. Anup Panthi, advocate Govinda Prasad Marasini and journalist Dinesh Pandey from the civil society.
According to Pandey, a member of the committee, the committee has made suggestions in its 26-page report, ranging from recommending action against doctors, action against health workers, recommending closure of health institutions to regular monitoring, registering and regulating health institutions operating against prevailing laws. "Based on the mandate received by the committee, it has pointed out issues ranging from the technical aspects of Geeta's treatment to the weaknesses of the health institution," he said. "The committee has worked hard to bring out the truth within a period of 72 hours."
