Irregularities in Dera hospitals functioning: Report

Chandigarh: The Shah Satnamji Specialty Hospital, run by the Dera Sacha Sauda in Haryana's Sirsa district, did not have a registration licence and organ donation was being carried out without requisite permission, according to a report.

A number of irregularities were found in the hospitals functioning during a sanition exercise overseen by Court Commissioner AKS Panwar, who was appointed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in September.

According to the findings of the Sirsa civil surgeon, which was part of the voluminous report submitted by Panwar to the high court, 40 skin grafts had taken place at the sect hospital.

"Out of the 40 grafts, eight were discarded due to various diseases," the civil surgeons report said.

It was found that the hospital authorities had no registration license and the skin transplant was being carried out without any valid consent from the recipients, it said.

"Twenty-nine refrigerated plastic jars with skin preservatives were seized," it said.

"The hospital was conducting organ donation or transplant without requisite licenses," the report added.

Discrepancies were also found in the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) and the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) conducted by the hospital.

As per the report, convicted sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singhs three storeyed house Terawas had bulletproof windowpanes.

During the sanitisation process, teams led by Court Commissioner seized costly watches, bangles, purses, imported drinking water, cosmetic products, several pairs of shoes, caps and hats, massage oil and a number of designer dresses from the Dera complex.

During the search on the first floor of the house, a covered passage from one room, belonging to Ram Rahim, was found linked to another room stated to be that of a servant. In this room, a window was found concealed by a wooden almirah sharing a common wall with the premises of sadhvis hostel, the report said.

The exercise to sanitise the sect from September 8-10 had led to the unearthing of two secret tunnels, an illegal firecracker factory and the sealing of an unlicensed skin bank.

The court commissioner on November 8 submitted its report before the full bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court here.

Ram Rahim is undergoing a 20-year imprisonment in Sunaria jail in Rohtak after his conviction by a Panchkula CBI court for raping two disciples.

Read also: Illegal organ transplants suspected at Dera Hospital, CM orders for investigation