Rape survivor, 5, made to wait 10 hours for medical test in UP; govt calls for action

PILIBHIT: After a five-year-old rape survivor was made to wait over 10 hours for medical examination at Pilibhit district women's hospital, Autonomous State Medical College (ASMC) doctors were directed to handle medico-legal cases at the facility and create a duty roster for such procedures.
After a TOI report highlighted the matter, the UP principal secretary of medical, health and family welfare department, Parth Saarthi Sen Sharma, on Monday took cognisance of the serious lapses in handling medico-legal procedures at the women's hospital and directed the authorities concerned to address the issues.
Following the principal secretary's directive, the director general of medical, health and family welfare, Dr Ratan Pal Singh Suman, asked Pilibhit chief medical officer Dr Alok Kumar to submit a detailed report on the matter. Dr Suman also ordered that ASMC doctors be assigned the task to handle medico-legal cases at the hospital.

The hospital, under ASMC, delayed the girl's medical examination even though a college doctor was on night duty on April 29. The ASMC principal the next day claimed that the responsibility lay with a doctor from the medical and health department, not the medical education wing.
Med college docs to conduct medico-legal procedures
The survivor's DNA samples were also found impaired, as they were not stored properly.
In another case on May 1, a victim of an abduction case was referred to a govt medical facility in Barkhera, located approximately 20 km away, for medico-legal examination, though ASMC doctors were available at the Pilibhit district women's hospital.
Meanwhile, ASMC principal Dr Sangita Aneja also gave her consent to the chief medical superintendent (CMS) of the district women's hospital, Dr Rajesh Kumar, for conducting medico-legal procedures by ASMC doctors whenever needed.
Notably, the CMS had sent a letter to the ASMC principal on April 8 requesting her to clarify whether doctors of the institute could be assigned duty to carry out medico-legal procedures.
It may be mentioned that the ASMC principal constantly defied an order dated Dec 6, 2022, issued by then UP chief secretary Alok Kumar making it mandatory for doctors at ASMCs in 14 districts of the state to also carry out duties related to post-mortem, medico-legal procedures and health programmes.
In another development, Pilibhit district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Singh on Monday called CMO Dr Alok Kumar and the district women's hospital CMS Dr Rajesh Kumar to explain the reasons under which the medico-legal facility was shifted to the old district hospital campus located 2km away.
The DM told TOI priority would be given to streamline the medico-legal system.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)