The simmering conflict between the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) government and a section of junior doctors in West Bengal recently flared again after one woman died and three others fell critically ill after childbirth at the state-run Midnapore Medical College and Hospital (MMCH) in West Midnapore after being allegedly administered “expired saline”. Earlier this week, one of the suspended MMCH doctors, Pallavi Chatterjee, moved the Calcutta High Court, seeking the quashing of the CID case against them. She has accused the CID of filing the charges “hastily” in a bid to “scapegoat the doctors”. The matter is likely to be heard on Monday. Dr Chatterjee is one of the 12 MMCH doctors, including the medical superintendent and six postgraduate trainee doctors, who were suspended following the death of a mother of a new-born there. The decision was taken by Mamata herself, who also hold the health portfolio besides the home ministry, on January 16 for “clear cases of medical negligence” as per a report submitted by the CID and a team of government experts. The CM also asked the CID to probe the criminal case against the suspended doctors following which it filed an FIR in the matter. On Thursday, the Joint Platform of Doctors — a body of junior doctors, which was at the forefront of the protests against the murder-and-rape of a trainee doctor at the state-run R G Kar Hospital in Kolkata on August 9, 2024 — wrote to state chief secretary Manoj Pant to demand immediate withdrawal of "loathsome and atrocious administrative overaction (both from health department as well as police)” against the MMCH doctors in the saline row. Another doctors’ body has raised questions about authorities allegedly trying to shift the blame to the MMCH doctors to create “distraction” from the issue of the “expired saline”. “It is extremely unfortunate on the part of the state to blame junior doctors in the saline case. Action against junior doctors are not only vindictive but also aimed at diverting attention from the real issue,” said secretary of the Association of Health Service Doctors, Dr Manas Gumta. Last Thursday, the Bidhannagar police searched the house of Dr Asfaqullah Naiya – one of the prominent faces of the R G Kar movement – at Kakdwip in South 24 Parganas after receiving a complaint that he was allegedly doing a private practice as an ENT surgeon despite currently being a postgraduate trainee in the ENT department at the RG Kar Hospital. The Bengal Medical Council has also issued a show-cause notice to Naiya who has also been interrogated by the police. On Wednesday, however, the High Court has ordered a six-week stay on the investigation against him. Naiya has rejected the charges against him, calling them the state government's "vindictive action" in retaliation to his participation in the R G Kar agitation. The R G Kar murder-and-rape outrage convulsed Bengal, setting off statewide protests with junior doctors leading the civil society’s movement to seek justice for the victim. They also alleged various irregularities in the administration of the hospitals on the watch of the TMC, seeking various reforms in the health sector. The R G Kar protests continued for months, affecting the functioning of many government hospitals across the state. It not only put the TMC on the back foot, but was also seen as a loss of face for Mamata. It also gave ammunition to the Opposition parties like the BJP and the Left to fire salvos at the Mamata dispensation. However, the TMC managed to weather the storm and went on to win all six Assembly seats in the bypolls held across the state in November last year. The TMC has now also claimed to have been “vindicated” in the R G Kar case with a Kolkata court on January 20 sentencing its prime accused Sanjoy Roy to life imprisonment. The junior doctors expressed dissatisfaction over the court's verdict, citing “unresolved” questions and a lack of action against other potential suspects while holding that they would continue their fight for justice. Barely a day after the trial court's verdict, the state government challenged it in the high court after Mamata announced that her government wanted death penalty. Observers say that after reeling under sustained pressure from the junior doctors' R G Kar stir — which forced her to remove then Kolkata police commissioner Vineet Goyal and two top health department officials — Mamata has seized on the MMCH death case to “turn the tables” on them. Both the BJP and the CPM slammed the TMC government over the fresh rows. BJP MP and spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya alleged: “The health system has collapsed in Bengal. The state government’s war cry against a section of doctors comes from a sense of intolerance, helplessness and vindictiveness. They want to shirk off their responsibility. The saline, which was banned from production, continued to be used in state-run hospitals. But after a woman's tragic death, all blame was put on a section of doctors.” CPM central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said, “Instead of targeting doctors and junior doctors, why no investigation against the health department? What is the need of raiding the house of a junior doctor who was the face of RG Kar protests? To shift the blame and save those responsible? The state government has hurriedly appealed for death penalty of the convict so that the truth never comes out.” Rejecting such charges, TMC spokesman Jayprakash Majumder said, “It’s a myth that doctors are against government. That is not true. Some ultra left organisations and CPM wanted to create anarchy (over saline row) and BJP gave them help, but it failed.”
