Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on March 1 denied reports about the lack of sterilised surgical instruments at the state-run Jawaharlal Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) in Imphal.

Biren came out with the clarification on February 28 reports, carried by a section of the local media, during the Zero Hour at the ongoing Assembly session. According to the reports, a patient who was to undergo an appendix operation at JNIMS had to be transferred to another hospital, after sterilised surgical instruments were found to be unavailable at the state-owned medical facility.

Biren said the person was "discharged and went to another hospital, due to a long queue of patients waiting for operations," an official release said. The Manipur government also said an official inquiry has found no shortage of such instruments at the JNIMS.