[Reader-list] from Illina Sen : about Binayak Sen

[Jeebesh]

--- On Thu, 23/4/09, Rajashri Dasgupta <rajashri_dasgupta at yahoo.com>  
wrote:

From: Rajashri Dasgupta <rajashri_dasgupta at yahoo.com>
Subject: from Illina Sen

Date: Thursday, 23 April, 2009, 9:58 AM


Dear friends,

I am writing to share some extremely distressing information that has  
just now come to light. We now have clear proof that the police in  
Chhattisgarh
are actively interfering with Binayak’s need for health care. I will  
just go over the facts with you.

Binayak, hypertensive for many years, was diagnosed on 2003 with  
angina upon stress after he underwent cardiac assessment tests with Dr  
Ashish Malhotra, Raipur’s only doctor with a DM in cardiology, who  
practices in a private facility. The drug regime that he was on in  
2007 and later was what  was suggested by this doctor. He began to  
feel chest pain upon exercise,
tingling in the left arm etc sometime in Decembr 0f 2008 and in  
January February of this year, when in prison. He informed the prison  
authorities of this, and when nothing concrete was done about
it (the jail hospital any way has no facilities), he informed the  
court about this. An application was filed I court on his behalf on  
17.2.09, requesting that he be allowed to go
for treatment to a properly equipped hospital of his choice,  
preferably CMC Vellore, citing section 39A of the Prisoners Act of  
1894, according to which
the jail Superintendent is empowered to send him for treatment to a  
facility of his choice, subject to the the prisoner or his family  
executing a bond and abiding by such conditions as the Superintendent  
may prescribe. On 20.2.09 the judge (11th additional district and  
sessions judge BS Saluja who is trying the case) ordered the jail  
authorities to get the opinion of a
medical board re Dr Sen’s cardiac condition so that an appropriate  
decision on his application could be taken.

Binayak was taken to the Raipur district hospital at some time between  
20.2 09 and
17.3.09, where the doctors who saw him suggested that he needed an
ecg and eckocardiograph.

On 17.3.09 Binayak complained to the court that no action had been  
taken on his request for treatment, and was quite emotional when he  
said that it did
not seem to matter to the court whether he lived or died. The judge  
who had built up this impressive correspondence was equally upset, and  
I personally
met him after the evidence was over and the accused taken back to jail  
to convince him that a medical situation demanded something more than  
just creating records. The judge seemed mollified and on the 18th of  
March, asked Binayak in court which doctor he wished to see in Raipur  
who could determine whether or not he needed an onward referral to  
Vellore , and upon Binayak naming Dr Ashish Malhotra, passed an order  
asking the jail to have Binayak shown to Dr Malhotra in order to  
obtain a clear opinion about whether such referral for further
investigation was needed.

Binayak was shown to Dr Ashish Malhotra on March 25. On the basis of  
the court order of 18.3, the jail superintendent requested the police  
for providing security guards to take Binayak to see the doctor.  
Accordingly, an impressive busload of armed police took Binayak to see  
Dr Malhotra around 10 am, and I got a call from Dr M around 10.30  
asking me to go there along with the old records. I proceeded to do  
this, and thus was present for most of the consultation. On the basis  
of the letter from the jail superintendent asking for a clear opinion  
on whether onward referral to CMC Vellore was needed, an ECG,  
Echocardiograph and treadmill test, he concluded that Binayak had  
Coronary Artery Disease (CAD), and referred
him
to VMC Vellore for Angiography for further  ssessment, to be followed  
by Angioplaasty/ Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery (CABS). I kept a  
photocopy of
the prescription for my own records, since I was asked to pay for the  
procedure.

I went to see Binayak in prison on the 26th, and to discuss what the  
modalities of travel to south India would be. I was shocked when the  
Jail Superintendent said categorically that Binayak would not be  
investigated/treated in Vellore but in Raipur. Sensing that something  
was amiss, I put in an application under the RTI act asking to see all  
the correspondence between the jail and the doctors regarding  
Binayak’s treatment. It is this last lot of documents that has just  
come into my hands.

To conclude the treatment story before I come to this, the
jail tried on the 31st of March, to take him to Escorts hospital in  
Raipur , and according to what we had discussed on my last jail visit,  
Binayak refused in writing to go there, saying that he did not wish to  
be treated in any facility in Chhattisgarh as directed by the jail  
superintendent , as he feared that his life might be in danger. This  
reply of his with a covering note that Binayak was refusing treatment  
was presented to the court on the 31st itself, seeking further  
directions. The court referred this to the public prosecutor asking  
him to file a reply within seven days. To the best of my knowledge, no  
such reply has been filed so far. Binayak has started on the new  
medication prescribed by Dr Malhotra (Atorva Statin)  and reports some
symptomatic relief.

To come now to the results of the RTI, I have now received Dr Malhotra’s
original referral letter of the 25th, but also a second letter  
addresses to the Jail Superintendent, quoting a query from him and  
dated 26th March, in which he gives his opinion that the facilities  
for angiography are available in Chhattisgarh in Escorts, Apollo,  
Bhilai Main hospital, Ramkrishna
hospital and two other places. He also writes that he referred Dr Sen  
to Vellore because the latter asked him for it. The problems with this  
are as follows:

- Why was this second query sent from the jail to Dr Malhotra ? If the  
jail superintendent sent such a letter, who was breathing down his  
neck to do so?

- This clearly constitutes total disregard for the court. The mandate  
to Dr M as specified by the court was to give a clear opinion about  
whether referral to Vellore was needed or not. The court did not ask  
Dr M about the length and
breadth of medical facilities in Chhattisgarh.

- Dr M was obviously under pressure when he said that he had referred  
Binayak to Vellore because the latter asked him to do so. In any case,  
what conversation he may or may not have had with his patient is  
supposed to be privileged information.

- If a doctor not in the public sector payroll in anyway can be  
intimidated to this extent, what is one to say of doctors in Escorts ,  
Apollo etc which are private medical franchises set up in the medical  
college (great examples of public private partnership, in which all
human resources are public, the brand name and the option of onward  
referral are private)?

- Under these circumstances, Binayak is absolutely right that his life  
may be in danger in any facility controlled by the state in  
Chhattisgarh.

In fact I am now worried that as Plan A of the police / prosecution  
(discredit Binayak
and convict him in the legal case ) shows signs of coming apart, they  
are now trying to resort to Plan B ( bump him off while in hospital in  
Chhattisgarh by just asking someone to, for eg, inject air into an IV  
drip).

I would like to appeal to all friends to ensure Binayak’s physical  
safety, publicize this matter, write about it, perhaps appeal to  
higher courts/political leaders ? It is urgent.

I want to end by saying that what we are asking for, treatment at a  
hospital of choice, is not unknown in Indian judicial history. In fact  
even from Raipur Central Jail, the Shivsena leader Dhananjay Singh  
Parihar, in jail on a charge of murder, was sent at state expense to  
KEM hospital Mumbai, Shankar Netralaya, Chennai and three other
hospitals for an assortment of ailments in 2003 . The police would  
like to portray Binayak as the biggest internal security threat they  
perceive. Are we going to let them get away with this ?

Ilina