Dr V P Bhatnagar, former chief medical officer, Saharanpur district, Uttar Pradesh, on Wednesday denied he played any role in highlighting meningitis deaths in Meerut and Saharanpur districts.
Speaking to rediff.com, Dr Bhatnagar said that a conspiracy was being hatched by a group of doctors to defame him at the fag end of his career.
"I have learnt that Dr Goyal, additional director of medical health, has told reporters that I engineered adverse media publicity and brought a bad name to the medical profession by giving exaggerated figures of deaths by meningitis. I see a deep-rooted conspiracy to defame me by a group of doctors who have an axe to grind," Bhatnagar said.
Saharanpur and Meerut shot into national headlines in late November with media reports of over 200 children dying due to a 'mysterious brain fever.'
When rediff.com spoke to Dr Goyal, he blamed Dr Bhatnagar for feeding reporters with exaggerated figures of deaths to settle scores with a fellow doctor.
"I have just two-and-a-half months to go before I retire. [Senior paediatrician] Dr Gopal Swarup has been trying to get me out of Saharanpur and become the chief medical officer in my place. I got stay orders from the court on two occasions and stalled my transfer. I provided everything that doctor Swarup had asked for [to fight meningitis deaths]. The District Medical Hospital in Saharanpur is one of the cleanest and best maintained hospitals in Uttar Pradesh," he said.
Dr Bhatnagar said Saharanpur's district magistrate is aware of the facts and an impartial probe would prove his innocence.
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