Saline Death Case: Suspended doctor moves Calcutta HC, Accuses CID of harassment

According to an IANS report, the doctor has alleged excesses by the CID within the hospital in the name of its parallel probe in the saline-related deaths of two persons at the hospital earlier this month.

The 12 doctors of the hospital, six seniors and six juniors, were suspended on charges of negligence of duty over the two deaths.

This was amid strong allegations of the deaths being the result of administration of expired Ringer’s Lactate.

Also Read:12 doctors, PG trainees suspended over negligence in woman's death at Midnapore hospital

Besides suspending the 12 doctors, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also announced two parallel probes in the matter, the first by a committee of clinical experts from the state health department and the second by a CID team.

On Wednesday Bandopadhyay approached the Calcutta High Court accusing the CID of unnecessary excesses in the name of investigation as well as seeking protection from coercion for suspended doctors in the matter.

In her petition, Bandopadhyay has stated that when a preliminary investigation has already hinted towards use of expired Ringer’s Lactate as the reason for the deaths, CID officials are unnecessarily trying to shift the onus of the mishaps on the doctors.

Calcutta High Court’s single-judge Bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh has admitted the petition and the matter is likely to come up for hearing on January 27.

Incidentally, the junior doctors attached to the said hospital, on Wednesday, announced their decision to withdraw from the partial cease-work reportedly after assurance from the office of the Chief Minister that their suspensions might be revoked soon.

Earlier this month five women had fallen sick at the hospital allegedly after being administered the expired Ringer’s Lactate.

First Mamoni Ruidas, one of the five women, and thereafter the newborn baby of Rekha Shaw, another among the five affected women, also died.

When the state was on the boil over allegations of administration of the expired Ringer’s Lactate supplied by an entity Paschim Banga Pharmaceuticals Private Limited, the Chief Minister at a press conference said the negligence of the attending doctors was the reason behind the mishaps and also announced their suspension, news agency IANS reported.

On that day she had given a virtual clean chit to the said entity and claimed that had it been the case then there would have been similar mishaps reports from other state-run hospitals where Ringer’s Lactate supplied by the same entity was being administered.

On that day she had also announced a parallel probe in the matter by the CID besides the ongoing probe by the team of clinical experts from the state health department.

However, recently a team of clinical experts submitted a report not ruling out the possibility of an adverse impact of injection of essential liquids like Ringers’ Lactate and oxytocin triggering the mishaps. The committee also said that the batch of Ringers’ Lactate and oxytocin has already been forwarded for more sophisticated clinical examination.

The committee, sources added, has also advised that till the report on this count arrives it is advisable to avoid the use of such clinical liquids of the same batch.

Also Read:Midnapore Hospital Junior Doctors Begin Cease Work to Protest Colleagues' Suspension