NRI doc in US may have infected 40,000 patients

HYPOCRITIC OATH: Six people have been infected with Hepatitis C after being treated at Dr Dipak Desai's clinic.

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New York: An Indian-American doctor Dipak Desai is making news for what's being called America's biggest medical malpractice scandal.

A probe has revealed that Dipak Desai’s clinic – Endoscopy Centre – in Las Vegas had syringes and anaesthetic vials that had allegedly been reused for nearly four years.

Six people are now known to have been infected by Hepatitis due to infected syringes.

The Center for Disease Control Prevention in Atlanta has estimated that 40,000 people have been treated in the clinic and may have been exposed to the deadly Hepatitis C and HIV virus. City officials are now tracing the patients to urge them to conduct blood tests for Hepatitis and HIV.

The FBI and the Internal Revenue Service have started investigations of a possible medical fraud in the clinic.

Desai’s license was suspended indefinitely on February 29 and his clinic was shut down by the city.

Desai, a gastroenterologist, had been practising medicine in Nevada for 28 years and had graduated from the Gujarat University.

He is also reported to have political connections and has been flush enough to have contributed money to President George Bush and Al Gore's election campaigns.

IANS REPORTS: According to reports, Desai’s junior partner, also an Indian American doctor, Vishvinder Sharma, resigned from the Nevada State Medical Board. Sharma, however, did not surrender his medical license.

Clinic staff told authorities that the practice of reusing some medical materials was ordered by the management. Five nurses associated with the clinic have surrendered their licenses, according to local papers.