The Calcutta High Court on Monday called for the case diary in the case of expired saline allegedly being administered to new mothers at Midnapore Medical College.
Jayanti Narayan, the counsel representing suspended anaesthetist Pallavi Bandhopadhay, submitted to the single bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh, “My client is an anaesthetist who is one of the 12 doctors suspended, but till now no FIR copy has been uploaded. Yet, she has been summoned.”
The court questioned the state as to why the FIR copy has not yet been uploaded and observed that a copy of the FIR has to be provided to the petitioner by Monday. The court further asked for the case diary to be presented in court on Tuesday during the hearing.
On Wednesday, Bandhopadhay, who is a senior resident doctor and anaesthetist, moved the court alleging that the death of a mother in the hospital was “due to the saline” and not due to anaesthesia, and that the CID is “trying to falsely implicate” her instead of investigating the expired Ringer’s Lactate saline.
At the medical college, four new mothers were allegedly administered expired Ringer’s Lactate saline on January 8.
A day later, Mamoni Rui Das’s health began to deteriorate, and she died on January 10. The others — Mampi Singh, Nasreen Khatun, Minara Bibi, and Rekha Sau — were in critical condition. Singh, Khatun, and Minara were referred to the SSKM Hospital in Kolkata after their condition worsened.
The FIR by Bandhopadhyay reads that the mother had died on January 10, whereas she delivered the child on January 8.
On January 16, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee suspended 12 doctors, including the medical superintendent and six postgraduate trainee doctors, of Midnapore Medical College and Hospital for “clear cases of medical negligence” as per a report submitted by the CID and a team of experts formed by the state government.
The CID has been asked to investigate the 12 doctors who were suspended by the state health department. Banerjee had alleged that it was the negligence of the junior doctors that led to the death of a pregnant woman who was administered spurious saline from West Bengal pharmaceuticals. The saline-providing firm has already been blacklisted by the state government.