Basavatarakam Indo American Cancer hospital R&D head alleges life threat
Hyderabad: The fight at the Basavatarakam Indo American Cancer Hospital and Research Institute has reached the Banjara Hills police station with the hospital’s research wing head filing a complaint alleging that his tea was spiked. Film star N. Balakrishna is the managing trustee and chairman of the trust. AP Speaker Kodela Siva Prasada Rao is also a member of the trust board.
Dr Vidudala Prasad, the R&D head of the cancer institute said, “Some of the board members are conspiring against me. They hold a grudge against me as I went to court six years ago, and got a stay when they tried to remove me without citing reasons. They tried to remove me as I refused to toe their line on unwanted purchases. When I joined R&D there was nothing big happening here. I came from the US to do research on oral cancer. I submitted a report to the board on irregularities and opposed the purchase of a '1.5 crore machine which was of minimal use then.”
He added, “Of late many events targeting me and my team have ocurred. On January 3 the tea served to us in the lab tasted salty. We thought it was spiked. We immediately informed the security officer. But there was no response. We wrote to the board on January 24 stating that we will be forced to seek outside help if they don’t react. So we filed a complaint on January 28, but they didn’t even visit the cancer institute. This is not an isolated incident. My door lock was tampered with earlier.” He said he had published seven research papers. “I have external grants tand it proves that research is going on well.”
Police said they haven’t found evidence supporting the allegations made by Dr V. Prasad. Inspector K. Srinivas said, “He lodged the complaint very late. No sample of the tea was preserved. None of those who consumed the tea were hospitalised. We have made a GD entry but we didn't register an FIR.” Basavatarakam Cancer Institute medical director Dr T.S. Rao said, “I am surprised by the complaint of Dr Prasad. There is no big research there. When the trust wanted to remove him for non- performance he went to court and got a stay and continued for years. When the CEO was changed after ex-IPS official R.P. Singh left and the new CEO took Satyanarayana took over, he refused to give permission for expansion of the R&D lab. Due to this Dr Prasad is trying all this. We will take action against him.”
