Allegations of Threat Culture' in Bengal medical colleges: Calcutta HC directs Govt to file affidavit

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday directed the West Bengal government to file an affidavit to the court on the alleged "threat culture" in different medical colleges and hospitals in the state.

A division bench of Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Bivas Pattanayak observed that if the allegations of such a "threat culture" going on in medical colleges, where the junior doctors are becoming the victims, is true, then, the matter is quite serious. The court also noted that the petitioners mentioned a "north Bengal lobby", which according to them exerts pressure for transfers and promotions.

The direction came from a public interest litigation by a doctor and a social worker where the petitioners alleged that they have come across multiple reports regarding the existence of a threat culture in state government-run medical colleges and hospitals, sale of answer keys for examinations, bribery, corruption, sexual harassment and abuse of medical students and junior doctors.

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As per the PTI report, the petitioners requested the court for a direction for investigation in the matter by a committee headed by any retired judge of the Calcutta High Court. They also prayed for the preservation of all records, including electronic records kept at medical colleges and hospitals. Further, they also gave the names of some persons to the court who, according to them, are the nexus leaders and claimed that the government has transferred some of them to other hospitals and certain other persons have been placed under suspension. 

The next hearing in the matter will be on November 21 and the state government will have to file its affidavit in the matter before that. Additionally, the bench, also comprising Justice Bivas Pattanayak, directed the National Medical Commission and the West Bengal Medical Council, who are respondents in the PIL, to give their inputs in the matter.

“Sixty per cent of female doctors and three-quarters of them have been victims of verbal abuse, physical attacks and harassment. This is according to a report by the Indian Medical Association,” observed the court as per Millennium Post news report. 

In interviews conducted with students, a junior female doctor said as per the daily report that her father provided her with a knife for protection against possible assailants, while another postgraduate trainee doctor mentioned that she could not go to duty without carrying a pepper spray.

Incidentally, the Calcutta High Court direction comes on a day when the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Forum (WBJDF), which is spearheading the movement against the ghastly rape and murder of a lady junior doctor at R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital, had sent a fresh message to Chief Secretary Manoj Pant highlighting their unfulfilled demands in the matter.

A major part of the missive dealt with the grievances of the junior doctors relating to the state government’s inaction as regards the formation of the Central Enquiry Committee for disciplinary proceedings against the perpetrators of the ‘threat culture’ in medical colleges. The forum also pointed out that no directive has been given by the state government to individual colleges to form college-level enquiry committees consisting of undergraduate students and resident doctors for disciplinary proceedings against perpetrators of the "threat culture".

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