Break the law, take refuge in hospital

New Delhi: Late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan's son Rahul Mahajan's case is not first where a hospital has not been fully transparent in providing accurate information on a celebrity patient.

In 2000, aspiring Bollywood actor Kishan Kumar, involved in the match fixing controversy, got himself admitted to Kailash Hospital in Noida on the day the Delhi police disclosed the match-fixing case before the media.

The hospital organised a press conference in a dramatic fashion soon after.

Dr Mahesh Sharma of Kailash Hospital in the press conference told the reporters not to cross-question Kishan.

On the advice of Kailash Hospital doctors he was shifted to Apollo Hospital after seven days.

In January 2004, the main accused in the Ahmedabad gangrape case, Sajal admitted himself to the Apollo Millennium Hospital at Pusa road, Delhi.

The hospital did not inform the police but stated Sajal had consumed a poisonous substance.

A claim countered by the police, which stated if it was a case of poisoning, they should have been informed.

The drama continued for five days even as Sajal remained in the Intensive Care Unit.

The illness, however, was never really explained. It took a medical team from Ahmedabad to check on him after finding him fit enough to be taken back to Ahmedabad.

So is it a case of misusing the sanctity of medical opinion?

"This is about social health. A doctor, if he is convinced that the patient is an addict, will definitely give him treatment but nobody will manipulate the report," President Delhi Medical Association, Dr K K Aggarwal says.

It may be easier to get away through the private hospitals, but such a possibility can happen at a government hospital as well.

Legally speaking, a medical board comprising three to five doctors can be formed to check on an accused, even if someone has admitted himself/herself in a private hospital. Infact the accused can also be shifted to a government hospital.

Either ways the procedure is time consuming as it can be done only after a court's order.

This can give enough time to the accused to get a cover for himself.