Former assembly speaker's death: MP 'fake' cardiologist's Chhattisgarh link emerges

Bilaspur: A "fake" cardiologist held for alleged forgery and being probed for seven deaths at a missionary hospital in Damoh in Madhya Pradesh also performed surgery on former Chhattisgarh assembly speaker Rajendra Prasad Shukla at a private hospital here in 2006 following which he died, his son claimed on Monday.

MP police arrested Narendra John Camm from adjoining Uttar Pradesh during the day. On Sunday, MP police registered a First Information Report (FIR) against the accused, who allegedly possesses a bogus medical degree, on forgery and dishonest misappropriation charges.

Shukla, then a Congress MLA from Kota assembly constituency, died on August 20, 2006 at Apollo Hospital here. He had served as first speaker of Chhattisgarh legislative assembly from 2000 to 2003.

Shukla's youngest son Pradeep Shukla (62) said Narendra Vikramaditya Yadav, the alleged fake doctor, was serving in Apollo hospital in 2006 when his father was admitted there.

"Yadav suggested and performed heart surgery on my father and then he was kept on a ventilator for nearly 18 days before he was declared dead on August 20, 2006. Yadav had joined Apollo one-two months back. He was introduced by Apollo Hospital as the best cardiologist of central India who performs surgery using laser," Pradeep Shukla claimed.

"Later, we came to know from others that Yadav did not have a degree of doctor and was a fraud. Even complaints were made against him earlier. The Bilaspur unit of Indian Medical Association had probed them. After my father's death, a few more cases of death of patients treated by Yadav came to light following which he was asked to quit Apollo Hospital," he added.

Alleging that "around 80 percent of patients treated by Yadav had then died in the hospital", Pradeep Shukla asserted that his father and others were "murdered".

"When my father died, he was sitting MLA and his treatment expenses were borne by the state government. Enquiry should be conducted against Yadav and Apollo hospital as they have also cheated the government," he added.

Justice (Retired) Anil Shukla, another son of the deceased former MLA, said an FIR should be lodged against Yadav and the hospital where he was working then in Chhattisgarh.

Apollo Hospital Public Relations Officer Devesh Gopal confirmed that Yadav had served there.

"He (Yadav) was associated (with the hospital) around 18-19 years back. It is a very old matter. The exact details like for how long he was posted and how many patients he handled is being collected. All the factual details will be shared once the documents are collected," Gopal said.

Bilaspur Chief Medical and Health Officer Dr Pramod Tiwari said he has sought all information regarding Yadav from Apollo Hospital after the issue came to light.

"The hospital management has been asked to furnish details about Dr Narendra Vikramaditya on Tuesday morning. The details which have been sought include since when he was working there, what was his degree and how many people did he operate upon," Dr Tiwari said.

If any irregularity is found in the matter, then a high level probe committee will be constituted and further action will be taken against the concerned person and hospital management accordingly, he added.