MMCH on boil after suspension letter for 7 jr docs
Times of India | 19 January 2025
123 Midnapore/Kolkata: A series of protests, including the gherao of administrators of Midnapore Medical College and Hospital (MMCH), happened on the campus on Saturday after seven postgraduate trainees received official suspension orders. Two members of the State Level Grievance Redressal Committee (SLGRC) also visited the medical college and appealed to the govt to revoke the suspension of the junior doctors. Even though the state announced the suspension of six junior doctors, seven received the notice on Saturday.
"We believe that the suspension is not reasonable. We have come to show our solidarity with our young colleagues and request the govt to reconsider this suspension," said head-and-neck onco Surgeon Sourav Datta, head of the SLGRC.
Datta, along with infectious diseases specialist Yogiraj Ray, a member of the committee, visited MMCH and met the college authorities and junior doctors. While the visit was suo-motu, the duo said they would discuss their views with other committee members. "If all members are on the same page with our views on the suspension of the junior doctors, we will approach higher authorities to revoke this suspension," added Datta.
The RG Kar incident stirred up issues that ail the health service and medical education system. The committee was set up with the aim of addressing some of these issues. Many members felt that junior doctors take on a tremendous workload and save lives at odd hours in the absence of senior doctors. They argued that, in this case, the junior doctors on duty could not have turned their back on the patients.
The junior doctors also sent a mail to the director of medical services urging him to revoke suspension of their colleagues. They stated that the junior doctors were providing service according to their duty roster and under the supervision of seniors following NMC guidelines.
They said none of the junior doctors in question was given an opportunity to explain their grievances to concerned authorities before the suspension decision. They were also not given any show-cause notices. They also cited that the post-mortem report on Mamoni Ruidas, who died due to complications post C-section, mentioned the cause of death as septic shock and did not attribute it to surgical complications.
A team of National Commission for Women, led by Archana Majumdar, visited the hospital and spoke to principal Mousumi Nandi, chief health officer Soumya Shankar Sarangi, the recently suspended super Jayanta Kumar Raut, the head of the gynaecology dept, doctors, nurses, and others on duty on that day.