Kolkata doctor murder: R G Kar Hospital emerges as headache for health department
Times of India | 11 August 2024
Protests continued on Saturday at RG Kar Hospital, where the body of the post-graduate trainee doctor was found on Friday KOLKATA: R G Kar is probably the state-run medical college and hospital that has been in the news most frequently for all the wrong reasons and doctors and students say this type of a crime was waiting to happen, given the "callous, insensitive and inhuman way" it has been run under the present dispensation, led by principal Sandip Ghosh.
Ghosh was actually removed twice by the state health department but, mysteriously, found his way back to the coveted RG Kar principal's chair.One government order removing him was cancelled within 48 hours and he was reinstated; in the second instance he was removed, transferred to Murshidabad Medical College again but brought back to RG Kar within a month. From allegations of torture of students who do not tow the line of the hospital management to including two interns in the internal probe panel (which was later disbanded) formed to investigate the rape and murder, those in the know say the campus is run by a clique run on the whims of a powerful "North Bengal lobby".
Even senior bureaucrats have told TOI several times in private that their writ "stops just short of the boundary walls of RG Kar". Inside the RG Kar gates, "no one matters", they say.
Taking the opportunity of the most recent incident of the heinous rape and murder of a second year female PGT doctor, various doctor organisations and a section of students have started clamouring the ouster of both Ghosh and MSVP of the medical college.
"The deceased PGT was like a daughter to me and the unfortunate incident has put me and the entire hospital administration in deep shock. We are trying to address the security and amenity concerns of our resident and junior doctors," Ghosh told TOI.
Ghosh took charge of RG Kar Medical College as its principal in mid-2021, promoted from the MSVP's post at Calcutta National Medical College (CNMC). Even as no allegations of irregularities were brought up against him during his tenure at CNMC, controversies began plaguing RG Kar after his assuming of office.
"He would ensure that students, whether MBBS or PGTs, fail in examination if they protested against him and the administration on issues that students considered was not in the best of the institute," said a PGT, who passed out from the institute recently.
A section of hospital administration and faculties have also alleged him of misappropriation of funds, discrepancy in procuring hospital equipment, stalling the research projects including the trial of anticancer drugs despite being approved by the ethics committee. Many faculty members also alleged of 'punishment posting' if they were not in his good books.
"Principals come and go but never has RG Kar been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons before the tenure of this current principal. I hope the state health department and the government take serious note of the consequences of keeping him on the helm and replace him with a better administrator," said a former senior faculty member of the institute who is also an alumnus of the college.
The first clamour for his transfer was in Oct 2021, a few months after he took charge. Students had been on protest since June that year demanding a fully functional student union and issues like better hostel facilities.
In Sept last year in a horrific ragging incident in the college's Manicktala Main Boys' Hostel, the victims had pointed fingers at senior students and PGTs close to the principal
"Some of us who refused to protest against the principal's transfer were victimised and ragged by seniors close to him. We still live in fear of being targeted," said an MBBS student.
When TOI spoke to Ghosh, he did not wish to comment on the charges against him. Regarding the demand for his transfer, he said, "Being a government servant I have always worked as per government order and will continue to do so."