Cancer patient's death over injection stokes political row in Himachal, former CM Thakur slams govt

Shimla: Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur on Saturday lashed out at Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu over the death of a cancer patient at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) allegedly due to the unavailability of an injection.

Thakur demanded an investigation into the case and stern action against the guilty.

He said it was the government's incompetence that disrupted the supply of medicines under Himcare and essential drugs.

The government however responded by saying Devraj Sharma, the 57-year-old patient, was given the best treatment, but he succumbed after a relapse.

Recently, a video showed up on social media showing a girl, Janhavi Sharma, claiming that her father, a cancer patient, died because he could not get an injection at the hospital despite being registered under the Himcare scheme.

She also claimed that her family had been waiting for the injection for a month since it was too costly for them to afford it at market price. The injection costs Rs 60,000.

Thakur said he had sent the video to the CM and urged him to understand the gravity of the situation.

"This is not an isolated case. I regularly receive phone calls and messages from people who say they didn't get treatment, medications, or tests in hospitals. Even those eligible for free medicines had to buy them from the market at higher rates," the BJP leader said.

He said that a systemic change cannot be achieved through speeches but requires hard work, planning, and implementation.

"When I was the CM, I noticed that people used to visit the Secretariat every day to seek help for medical treatment from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund. To ease their burden, our government introduced Himcare, which included people who were not covered under the Ayushman Bharat scheme," he said.

A spokesperson of the state government said that Devraj Sharma, a carcinoma palate patient, was given the best treatment in the Oncology Department of Indira Gandhi Medical College in Shimla and rubbished the allegations of negligence as "politically motivated".

The government said Sharma was given chemotherapy and was cured. However, after a relapse, he again underwent palliative chemotherapy but did not respond to the treatment.

Sharma was advised an administration of immunotherapy-based injection of nimotuzumab. The injection was to be given in three phases, and he was given the first injection on October 22 last year, the government said in a statement.

Sharma, however, succumbed before the next scheduled date of the therapy, it added.

The government said Sharma was covered under the Himcare scheme and a sum of Rs 1.79 lakh was spent on his free treatment.

According to the spokesperson, the pharmacist of the Jan Aushadhi shop had requested the patient's attendants to secure the nimotuzumab (Biomab) injection in three or four days.

However, none of them came to the pharmacy to get the injection or medicine, he said.