Medical officer transfer proves jail no bar for Sekhar Reddy’s powers

Reddy was upset with medical officer Dr Karthikeyan after he reportedly asked him some uncomfortable questions. Prison sources told DTNext that Reddy took up the matter when a minister’s personal assistant visited him to check on the ‘facilities’ provided to the sand baron. Shortly thereafter, Dr Karthikeyan was transferred to Udhagamandalam. 

Sources said Prem Kumar, the associate of Reddy who also arrested in connection with the same case, had also spoken to a state minister, regarding the doctor’s transfer. 

“Prison officials wanted Karthikeyan to extend some “favours” to Reddy and when he refused, he was transferred to Ooty. We took up the matter with the Director of Medical Services and after several appeals, Karthikeyan was shifted to Pulicat Government Hospital,” P Balakrishnan, secretary of Tamil Nadu Government Doctor’s Association (TNGDA) told this newspaper.

The TNGDA managed to approach the DMS with the request to cancel the transfer of Dr Karthikeyan only after the said minister was raided by the I-T department. “Till then there was no scope of DMS cancelling the transfer order,” another TNGDA member said. 

After the transfer of Dr Karthikeyan, the Puzhal prison complex has been running with only one medical officer for the last 60 days. No other medical officer has been posted so far to the jail. As a result, the present medical officer is working without leave for the last two months.

Senior officials said the prison department had nothing to do with the transfers of the medical officers and only the health department takes such decisions. “They do not consult us on such matters. The prison department sometimes recommends transfer of some doctors if they were found lax in executing their duties,” a prison official said. 

When contacted, Director of Medical Services, Dr P Banu said that the transfer order was issued by her predecessor and Karthikeyan’s posting was done based on a request from him through the TNGDA. “When I checked the transfer files, I could not find any reason attributed to Dr Karthikeyan’s shifting,” Dr Banu said.