12 doctors, PG Trainees suspended for Negligence in Woman's Death at Bengal Hospital
Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Thursday the suspension of 12 doctors including the medical superintendent and vice-principal (MSVP) along with six postgraduate trainee doctors at Midnapore Medical College and Hospital for negligence in the death of a woman and four others falling ill after childbirth due to the alleged administration of ‘expired’ intravenous fluid.
Condemning the incident, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said her government would offer the family of the deceased woman a compensation of ₹5 lakh and a government job, news agency PTI reported.
"This is an unfortunate and sentimental incident and our government does not support it. The reports filed by the CID and that by the expert committee are the same. We have found negligence by several doctors and decided to suspend 12 of them," Banerjee told reporters.
The suspended doctors include the medical superintendent and vice-principal (MSVP) of the hospital, the RMO, the head of the department, one senior resident, and six postgraduate trainee doctors, she added.
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"Those who were on duty in Medinipur could have saved the woman. Those responsible for such negligence, who were absent despite being on duty, and allowed trainee doctors to perform cesarean surgeries—these are the people we are holding accountable. We have information that one doctor performed three more surgeries, then went to Debra and carried out more operations," Banerjee said.
According to an IANS report, the CM said, "I am compassionate towards doctors, but if there is any injustice, then I do not care about the criticism. So, after seeing the two reports and taking suggestions from the chief secretary and the home secratary, we have taken this step."
Banerjee said the CID would lodge an FIR against the doctors and continue the investigation.
The CM, who is also the health minister, questioned why there were no CCTV cameras outside the operation theatres at state-run hospitals. She directed chief secretary Manoj Pant and Health Secretary NS Nigam to immediately install CCTV cameras outside the OTs in all hospitals.
"I think there should be CCTV cameras inside operation theatres too. In certain cases, some patients might have reservations. We will not reveal those videos, but we have the right to monitor the movement of people going in and out of the OTs, and how long they stay inside," she said.
On alleged usage of 'expired' intravenous fluid, the Bengal CM said such medicines were already removed from all hospitals.
"We keep on monitoring. Medicine stores are audited to check whether expired drugs are being used. As for the intravenous fluid we are discussing, some states are still using it. I don’t know if there is any story behind it. We have already stopped using it. We will retest and then make a decision. If there is any alternative, we will consider it. This is a serious matter, and senior doctors should be involved in it," she said.
On doctors working in private medical establishments during their duty hours in state-run hospitals, Banerjee cautioned them that such practices would not be allowed.
"I will appeal to senior doctors to be on duty during their allocated eight hours. We have information that there are doctors who go to the hospital to attend duty, mark their biometrics and after staying there for two hours, go out to private hospitals to treat and operate patients and then return.
"Do not do any other duty during this allocated eight hours. You do whatever you feel like after that," she said, adding that in every case, senior doctors must accompany the junior trainee doctors.
Banerjee went on to hold the examination system responsible for the degradation in health services and said the state was consulting a foreign agency to improve it.
"You can get everything in our hospitals and our medical facilities are well-equipped. We are not responsible for this degradation. The examination system is responsible for it. The MSVPs and principals must take special care of this," she added.
A woman died and four others were critical after delivery of babies at the Midnapore Medical College and Hospital allegedly due to the administration of 'expired' intravenous fluid, prompting the health department to constitute a 13-member committee to investigate the matter.
She said out of the three women patients being treated at the state-run SSKM Hospital, the condition of two was stable while the other one was still "very critical".
Addressing a press conference, chief secretary Manoj Pant said both the reports submitted by the CID and the 13-member expert committee found total negligence on the part of doctors that led to the mishap.
"The procedure of treatment was not followed properly. Two operations were performed simultaneously. On-duty doctors did not go to see patients. They did not perform a single surgery personally and when called inside the OT, the RMO went inside once. On bed tickets, patient parties were asked to give a declaration written in Bengali that there may be a probable adverse reaction," Pant said.
"None of the protocols was followed. CCTV cameras are not present there. Senior doctors whose presence were mandatory were absent. So, it proved to be a case of negligence," the bureaucrat added.
