Many condemn 'negligence' at RIMS
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, September 21 2025: Several organisations have condemned in the strongest terms the alleged medical negligence committed by RIMS which has resulted in a series of preventable deaths of five people within a very short period.

A statement issued by the Youth's Forum for Protection of Human Rights (YFPHR) asserted that these repeated failures are not isolated lapses but amount to grave violation of human rights and the right to health.

These back-to-back deaths have created a climate of fear and distrust among the people of Manipur.

The reputation of RIMS, once a premier medical institution, is in sharp decline, it remarked.

It questioned whether RIMS is producing doctors with competence and ethics or whether it has become compromised by systematic negligence.

The YFPHR and the World Meetei Organisation (WMO) Women Wing have also expressed serious concern about a possible nexus between medical practitioners and private hospitals, raising suspicions that negligence in Government facilities is being used to push patients towards private hospitals or private treatment.

The YFPHR and the WMO Women Wing have asked the Manipur Medical Council (MMC) to immediately constitute an independent inquiry committee and make the findings of the inquiry public within a fixed timeframe so as to ensure transparency and accountability.

It has urged the Manipur Medical Council, State Government and RIMS authorities to take disciplinary action including suspension of medical licences and criminal proceedings where applicable against the doctors, administrators and senior officials found guilty of negligence.

The State must provide adequate compensation to the families of the deceased victims and ensure psychological and financial support, it said.

The Government must ensure that senior and experienced doctors are posted round the clock in emergency and casualty wards instead of leaving them to junior staff and PG students so that critical cases are not neglected, it asserted.

The RIMS Director and the Union Health Minister must look into the recent series of preventable deaths and pay compensation to the families of the deceased victims, the WMO Women Wing said.

It has also questioned the qualifications and ethics of RIMS doctors.

Instead of saving lives, RIMS has become an instrument of death, the WMO Women Wing said in a press release.

It appealed to all doctors, nurses and administrators working at RIMS, JNIMS, CHCs, PHCs and private hospitals to take care of patients with compassion and dedication.

The People's Action for National Democratic Movement (PANDM) has expressed serious concern over the people's rising distrust in RIMS following the recent series of preventable deaths.

Doctors' negligence was reported in all these cases.

There were reports of not giving due care to patients, not listening to patient parties and not attending to a patient even after he complained of breathing difficulty were reported, said a press release issued by PANDM.

It was only a few days back that Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla hailed RIMS as a premier healthcare institute but RIMS is fraught with lapses and negligence, and the RIMS Director must be held accountable for this failure, PANDM said.

Although there have been several cases of deaths at hospitals due to alleged negligence by doctors and staff, there has been not a single report of authorities taking any punitive action against doctors, it said.

It also questioned the authorities' failure to check private practice by Government doctors.

PANDM said that it will constitute a fact finding committee to investigate the controversial deaths that occurred at RIMS.

The committee will also keep vigil on all private hospitals and clinics, it added.

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