Taking note of the charges of dereliction of duty with regard to Covid, Dhanbad deputy commissioner Uma Shankar Singh today stopped the salary of medical officer-in-charge of Nirsa, Dr Ila Roy and served a show cause notice against her, directing her to submit a reply within 24 hours.

The specific action was taken due to gross negligence by the MOIC during the two-day special Rapid Antibody Test drive conducted on August 16 and 17.

Roy did not provide any information regarding the attendance of medical staff and reporting time with regard to a second special Rapid Antibody Test drive, which began on Thursday in different parts of the district, including in Nirsa blocks.

She also did not answer her phone.

“During the recently conducted special drive, no reports were provided by Roy to the district administration with regard to progress of the drive despite being asked repeatedly, leading to the non-achievement of target of the special drive,” said the DC.

When Singh asked Nirsa Block Development Officer Vikash Kumar Rai, he said that Roy didn’t cooperate in the execution of work during the Covid pandemic.

“Such an act during the time of pandemic is very condemnable and therefore a show cause notice has been served against her and her salary has been stopped till the next order,” said Singh.

Singh, meanwhile, also took cognizance of lesser number of tests being conducted at Patliputra Medical College and Hospital and the Sadar Hospital Dhanbad through TrueNat machines, and instructed the PMCH principal Dr Shailendra Kumar and Sadar Hospital to ensure at least 120 swab tests are done every day.

“We had instructed both Sadar Hospital and PMCH administration to carry out mandatory Covid tests of all persons coming to the OPD. However, the sample collection and testing through TrueNat machine was not commensurate with expectations since the last few days in both the hospitals,” he said, adding that a sufficient number of TrueNat machines as well as staff members have been provided by the district administration to both the hospitals.

Since assuming office on July 15, Singh has laid focus on the acceleration of sample testing work and also inspected the PMCH microbiology lab on July 19 to explore the possibility of accelerating the swab sample testing work.

Doctors and other healthcare staff also apprised of the lack of workers as the main constraint in accelerating the sample-testing rate.

Two microbiologists including PMCH head of the department of biometrics Sunil Verma, and the head of the department of microbiology BC Banerjee, were deputed at the microbiology lab of PMCH with the aim of increasing of Covid sample test speed on July 28.

This apart, the appointment of 92 persons including 86 lab technicians and 6 data entry operators has been made by the district administration on August 2 across the district to increase the swab sample testing work.

While 17 lab technicians have been deputed at the PMCH for increasing sample testing through TrueNat machines, 35 persons have been appointed at Sadar Hospital Dhanbad, including 29 lab technicians (6 for RTPCR machine and 29 for trueNat machines) and 6 data entry operators for compilation of data etc.