Bengal doctors ask govt to dissolve state medical council | Kolkata

The Joint Platform of Doctors (JPD), an umbrella association of doctors in West Bengal, on Wednesday asked the government to dissolve the state’s medical council, saying it was marred by corruption, criminal investigations and blatant disregard for legal procedures.

The state medical council is an autonomous body mandated to grant registration to medical practitioners having qualifications recognised by the National Medical Commission and probe complaints of medical negligence and breach of ethics.

The council is currently headed by Dr Sudipta Ray, a Trinamool Congress legislator.

“The current council has lost its entire moral authority to proceed one inch further. The loss of trustworthiness of this council for the common mass and doctors community at large has touched its nadir and naturally the glory, dignity and prestige of this council is at serious stake beyond any minimum level of confusion,” JPD said in a letter to chief secretary Manoj Pant on Wednesday.

“It is disgraceful to note that this council failed to hold the obligatory physical meet following the dastardly heinous crime at RG Kar Medical College,” Dr Punyabrata Gun and Dr Hiralal Konar, convenors of JPD said in the letter. HT has reviewed a copy of the communication.

The doctors’ body raised the demand a day after the council president asked health secretary NS Nigam to seek the removal of Dr Santanu Sen, one of the three state-nominated members of the medical council since he had missed several recent meetings. Sen, a former Rajya Sabha member of the ruling party, was the most vocal among ruling party leaders after the crime. He had demanded inquiry against some senior doctors following which TMC removed him from the post of party spokesperson.

On Thursday, he refused to speak on the council seeking his removal. “I will not comment on these issues,” he said.

A senior health department official said a letter seeking Sen’s removal has been received from the council.

“The health department will take a decision on Santanu Sen. In October, the department wrote to the council that another doctor, Manas Chakraborty, be removed from the post of registrar of the council as his inclusion in 2019 was questionable. Chakraborty’s appointment was cancelled on Wednesday,” the official added, requesting anonymity.

Following mass agitations and repeated demands by doctors, the state medical council earlier cancelled the registration of Sandip Ghosh, the principal of RG Kar Medical College when a junior doctor was raped and murdered on August 9. Ghosh is currently in judicial custody.

Council president Sudipta Ray described the joint platform’s demand for the removal of all council members as absurd. “Anybody can raise an allegation against anyone. A person cannot be called guilty until the charges are proved,” Ray told reporters.