Kolkata, Jan 19 A total of 38 doctors of state-run Medinipur Medical College and Hospital in West Bengal are on a marathon hunger strike to protest against the state government’s decision to suspend 12 of their colleagues.
The junior doctors began their protest late Saturday night. Last week 12 doctors were suspended over the death of a woman and newborn baby allegedly after being administered with expired Ringer’s Lactate.
The striking junior doctors alleged that the 12 doctors, six junior and six seniors, were an attempt to divert attention from the key issue that the deaths were caused because of the administration of expired Ringer’s Lactate supplied by the Paschal Bang Pharmaceuticals Limited, an entity which was blacklisted first by Karnataka government and subsequently by the West Bengal government.
The 12 suspended doctors included the medical superintendent- cum- vice principal (MSVP) and the resident medical officer (RMO) of the same hospital.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee while announcing the suspension of the doctors last week, gave va irtual clean chit to the said entity that supplied the Ringer’s Lactate.
“We have been repeatedly appealing for revoking the suspension of the 12 doctors. We have communicated with different departments through email on this issue. However, failing to get any reply we ultimately decided to go for the hunger strike. This is an extension of our partial cease-work at the hospital that already started a couple of days back,” a fasting junior doctor said.
Already a two-tier investigation is going on in the saline-related death cases, one by the state health department-appointed team of experts and the second by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of West Bengal Police.
The Service Doctors’ Forum (SDF), an association of doctors practising in West Bengal, on Friday, approached the office of Governor C.V. Ananda Bose and sought the latter’s intervention in initiating a judicial probe into the deaths of the woman and the newborn.
SDF has claimed that the suspension of the doctors is aimed at diverting attention from the real reason for death which is the administration of expired Ringer’s Lactate supplied by a blacklisted entity Paschim Banga Pharmaceuticals Private Limited.
The medical body has also claimed that from the post-mortem report of the deceased woman, Mamoni Ruidas, who died on January 10, it is clear that the death was due to the adverse impact of saline or medicine administered to her and in such a situation the suspension of the 12 doctors is an attempt to divert attention from the main issue.
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