The Bengal government on Thursday suspended 12 doctors at the Midnapore Medical College and Hospital, including the medical superintendent and gynaecology head, for “negligence” in connection with a young mother’s death and serious illnesses to four other post-childbirth women.
Probes had revealed that a doctor who should have been present at the Midnapore hospital during the cesarean sections on the five women was actually performing surgeries 33km away, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said.
Mamata, who announced the suspensions at a news conference at Nabanna, said the probe reports from the CID and a team of (health department-appointed doctors) had “matched”.
“Negligence is a crime,” the chief minister said. “The CID will look into the criminal aspect.”
Asked whether FIRs will be filed, she said: “Automatically.”
The 12 doctors will remain suspended pending the CID inquiry.
An association of government doctors protested the “unjust and inhuman” suspensions claiming the inquiry and the post-mortem had not suggested negligence.
The suspended doctors are Soumen Das, residential medical officer (RMO); Dilip Kumar Pal and Himadri Nayek, assistant professors of gynaecology; Mohammad Alauddin, head of the gynaecology department; Jayanta Kumar Routh, medical superintendent and vice-principal (MSVP); Pallabi Banerjee, senior resident; and postgraduate trainees Moumita Mondal, Bhagyasree Kundu, Susanta Mondal, Pooja Saha, Manish Kumar and Jagriti Ghosh.
Mamata identified Pal by name as the doctor who "performed three surgeries at Balichak in Debra" while the caesarian sections were being done at the Midnapore hospital. She said Das too was absent during the procedures.
“Doctor Dilip Kumar Pal, about whom Narayan (health secretary Narayan Swaroop Nigam) was speaking... he performed surgeries in three places,” Mamata said.
The five C-sections were performed on the night of January 8 and the early hours of January 9.
Under the rules, a doctor at a government hospital who eschews the non-practising allowance can practise at a private healthcare facility within 20km of their place of posting. The doctor must procure a no-objection certificate from the authorities for private practice.
Mamata asked Nigam, who was at the news conference, to provide more details.
Nigam told her: “The doctor went there (Balichak) physically. The doctor’s name was found on the register.”
Mamata asked: “Is the MSVP not responsible? How many times did the HoD go?”
Chief secretary Manoj Pant added that “Soumen Das was not present in the OT room”.
CCTVs
Mamata said it was important to have CCTV cameras at the entry to operation theatres, adding that this could not be done because of resistance. She did not elaborate.
“I am telling the health secretary and the chief secretary to install CCTVs up to the OT gates in all hospitals. Who is going up to the gate, who is going in, who is coming out, who is going to the OT, how long they are staying --- why won’t there be a right to see that?” the chief minister said.
She reminded doctors of their responsibilities at government hospitals, saying they must spend “eight hours at the hospital”.
On Monday, chief secretary Pant had flagged “serious negligence” and violation of the standard operating procedure by doctors as the prima facie cause for the young mother’s death and the critical illnesses of four others at the Midnapore hospital.
At Thursday’s news conference, he repeated the charge that doctors had violated the standard operating procedure.
After the 13-member probe team of doctors flagged negligence in their preliminary report submitted on Monday, the state government asked the CID to inquire into this aspect, sources said.
Mamoni Ruidas, 30, a resident of Garbeta, West Midnapore, died at the Midnapore hospital on Friday. Three critically ill post-childbirth women — Mampi Singh, 23, Nasrin Khatun, 19, and Minara Bibi, 31 — were shifted to SSKM Hospital in Calcutta on Sunday night.
Rekha Shaw, the other patient to fall seriously ill after her cesarean section, had improved and did not need to be shifted. “Those who were (supposed to be) on duty at Midnapore (Medical College and Hospital), had they performed their duties properly, we could have saved the mother. Can you justify someone not fulfilling their responsibility? Nothing is more important than a life,” Mamata said.
“We sent a team of experts. Besides, the CID was also sent to probe the matter. We gave 72 hours for investigation, to know the matter properly…. The report by the doctors’ team that was sent and the CID team have matched.”
She added: “The chief secretary and health secretary submitted the two reports and gave me suggestions. I accepted their suggestions and took the decisions.”
Responding to allegations that the death and the illnesses were caused by the poor quality of the Ringer’s lactate intravenous solution administered to the women, Mamata said these were “being retested and better alternatives should also be explored”. “Many states are still using the saline (Ringer’s lactate). We will do a retest. If there are better alternatives, I will ask to have these explored,” she said.
Nigam said that all drugs underwent repeated tests before being supplied to hospitals. “Despite that we have kept aside all supplies by this company and are doing further tests,” he said.
The Service Doctors’ Forum, an organisation of government doctors, protested against the suspensions.
“We are protesting the unjust and inhuman decision to suspend 12 doctors. The reports of the inquiry committee and the post-mortem did not point at negligence by doctors as the cause of death,” Forum general secretary Sajal Biswas claimed.
Referring to the allegations of poor-quality Ringer’s lactate, he said: “If there is any fault of the administration, then the health department officials and health minister (Mamata) have to take responsibility.”