Patna,(BiharTimes): The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has suo motu issued a notice to the Bihar government over the alleged irregularities in the purchase of medicine and equipment in the state.

Notices have been issued to the chief secretary and director general of police, government of Bihar and a report has been sought within four weeks.

According to the statement issued by the NHRC it “has taken suo motu cognizance of a media report that a patient died during operation in the Bhagalpur Medical College Hospital due to sub-standard medicines supplied by the Bihar Medical Services and Infrastructure Corporation Limited (BMSICL).”

The patient, Arvind, of Belhar in neighbouring Banka district was admitted to the hospital for operation. He died during the operation on May 21. Media reports attributed this incident to the use of medicine purchased from blacklisted company by the Corporation.

The NHRC observed that the contents of the newspaper report, if true, raise a serious issue of violation of human rights of the patients in general and the deceased in particular.

Meanwhile, BJP leader Rameshwar Chaurasia on Thursday welcomed the NHRC move and alleged that the magnitude of the medicine scam might be much bigger than the infamous fodder scam of 1990s.