RG Kar fiasco: IMA strike cripples Bengal healthcare services, CBI grills ex-hospital principal

Kolkata, Aug 17 (PTI) Healthcare services across West Bengal remained crippled on Saturday, as senior doctors at public and private medical facilities, responding to a 24-hour nationwide strike called by the IMA, joined the agitating junior medics to protest the alleged rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee.

The CBI, meanwhile, questioned the former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital Dr Sandip Ghosh for a second round, following the previous round of examination, which began on Friday evening and continued till well past midnight.

The body of the doctor was found in a seminar hall of the state-run hospital on August 9.

Ghosh, sources said, was initially questioned on the hospital’s response to the death of the victim. He was seen re-entering the CBI office at the CGO complex in Salt Lake with a bunch of papers and files a little before 10.30 am on Saturday, and hadn’t left the premises till reports last received.

Separate teams of the central investigating agency also reached the crime scene at the RG Kar hospital and the barrack of the Kolkata Police's Armed Forces fourth battalion in Salt Lake, where the arrested prime accused, civic volunteer Sanjay Roy, was putting up.

At RG Kar hospital, the investigators collected samples and sent those to the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory for testing, an officer said.

"At the KP barrack, the team spoke to the policemen who are staying there and enquired about the accused's movements on Friday morning. They took the details of when Roy returned to the barrack and what he did after reaching there," he said.

Later, the same team reached Sambhunath Pandit Street in South Kolkata, Roy’s rented residence, and spoke to his mother about his recent whereabouts and recorded her written statement, the officer said.

During his first round of questioning, the former principal was asked about his first reaction after getting the news of the doctor's death, who he instructed to inform the family and who contacted the police, he said.

CBI officials enquired about the weekly roster of the chest medicine department where the victim was seen to be put on duty for a gruelling 36 hours at a stretch or, at times, even 48 hours, the officer said.

"Some of his answers were convoluted. He was grilled till early Saturday and then allowed to leave for home," the officer told PTI.

In an evening development, the Mamata Banerjee government was learnt to have cancelled its bulk transfer order of 43 doctors and 190 female health assistants issued by the state health department on August 16 in the wake of fresh protests that were registered by a section of the agitating doctors.

While the government had initially called the transfers “routine” and insisted that most doctors were being moved from the periphery regions to the vicinity of Kolkata, the United Doctors Front Association, a nation-wide body of doctors, called the move “unjust” and an “attempt to silence demands for justice and security”.

State health secretary N S Nigam told reporters, “The transfer order was issued sometime back. We cancelled it today because had the transfers been brought to effect, it would have further disrupted the services these doctors were providing to patients under the current situation. There’s no controversy here.” The Kolkata Police, which is probing the large-scale vandalism at R G Kar hospital in the early hours of August 15, meanwhile, confirmed that the arrest figure in connection with the violence currently stands at 30.

The police were learnt to have summoned for questioning several Left leaders, including DYFI’s Bengal secretary Minakshi Mukherjee, who led a significantly large group of protestors during the women’s ‘Reclaim the Night’ programme outside the hospital premises at the time of the violence.

“Of course we will meet the police. But before that we have to consult our lawyers,” Mukherjee said.

Services at the outpatient departments of both government and private hospitals were affected on Saturday, after seniors doctors joined the juniors, on stir for the past eight days.

"Our agitation will continue. This is the only way to get our demands fulfilled. How can people get inside the hospital and attack us even when the police are present? We can understand the actual motive of the vandalism," a protesting doctor said.

Non-essential healthcare services at the state-run SSKM Hospital, Sambhunath Pandit Hospital, and Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital, among others, were crippled because of the agitation. Similar scenes were witnessed at private healthcare facilities in the state.

Manipal Hospitals said routine OPD services remained closed in line with IMA's call.

"All emergency and essential services will continue and prior appointments will be rescheduled," an official of Manipal Hospitals said.

ILS Hospitals senior vice-president Debashis Dhar said, "In solidarity with the IMA strike, we have suspended OPD services and elective surgeries across all our units today. ILS Hospitals fully support this cause, and while routine services are suspended, our emergency services will continue to function as usual, ensuring patients in need of urgent care receive immediate attention." Later in the day, the state government announced a slew of measures to ensure the safety of women at workplaces, particularly at state-run hospitals, where women work in night shifts. PTI SCH SUS SMY RBT