Doctors in Bengal hospital on hunger strike in protest against suspension of 12 colleagues

Kolkata: 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.

IANS

Kumbh pe jawab do: Oppn stages loud protest in Parliament

New Delhi: Parliament's Budget session resumed on Monday with an uproar as the Opposition staged loud protests over the Maha Kumbh stampede in Prayagraj, which claimed 30 lives. The Opposition...

Ambedkar statue vandalism: Dalit outfits call for Amritsar shutdown

Amritsar: Members of Dalit bodies have given a call for Amritsar shutdown on Monday to protest the vandalising of the iconic statue of B.R. Ambedkar on Heritage Street near the...

BPSC examination row: Pappu Yadav calls for ‘Bihar Bandh’ on Jan 12

Patna: Independent MP Rajesh Ranjan, popularly known as Pappu Yadav, on Wednesday called for a state-wide bandh on January 12 to press for the demand of the Bihar Public Service...

Union Carbide waste disposal: Two protesters attempt suicide in Pithampur, CM Yadav blames Cong

Bhopal/Pithampur: Two men attempted suicide during a protest against the transportation of hazardous waste from the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal to Pithampur in Dhar district on Friday. However, some...

Hyderabad college students protest over alleged video recording in washrooms; 7 suspects being grilled

Hyderabad: Police have picked up seven suspects for questioning after protests by female students of a private engineering college over alleged video recording in hostel bathrooms. The mobile phones of...

Punjab shutdown: Farmers block roads, trains impacted

Chandigarh: The shutdown call by farmer organisations evoked an enormous response in Punjab on Monday over their demands, including a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) for crops. However,...

Police use teargas, water cannon to disperse protesting farmers at Shambhu border

Chandigarh: Haryana security personnel on Saturday lobbed teargas shells to disperse protesting farmers who were attempting to cross multi-layered barricades erected as a preventive step at Shambhu border point between...

RG Kar issue: Day-long protests in Kolkata today on bail to Ghosh, Mondal

Kolkata: On Saturday Kolkata is all set to witness a resurrection of protests, as the medical fraternity and common people are fuming over the granting of “default bail” to two...

‘Delhi Chalo’ march temporarily suspended, farmers injured owing to teargas shelling

Chandigarh: Protesting farmers, mainly from Punjab, on Sunday again suspended their foot march to Delhi for the day after some of them suffered injuries in teargas shelling by Haryana Police...

Stir intensifies as Manipur man remains untraced after 13 days; 2,000 soldiers continue search

Imphal: As at least 2,000 soldiers of the Army and Assam Rifles continued their hectic search operation to locate the 56-year-old man from the Meitei community, Joint Action Committee (JAC)...

Farmers from Punjab defer ‘Delhi Chalo’ protest march, say ready for talks with Centre

Chandigarh: Protesting farmers, mainly from Punjab, gathered at an interstate border of Haryana in support of the ‘Delhi Chalo’ foot march, on Friday deferred their march for a day as...

UP Police arrests protesting farmers in Greater Noida, takes them to Police Lines

Greater Noida (Uttar Pradesh): Farmers under the banner of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha once again attempted to gather at Zero Point to press for their demands. The call for the...

Read Previous

‘Mann Ki Baat’: This Republic Day is very special, says PM Modi

Read Next

Railway milestone: 18-coach trial run on Katra-Budgam track in J&K

WP2Social Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com