A senior resident of Midnapore Medical College and Hospital, who has been suspended by the state government in connection with the death of a woman after childbirth, moved a petition before Calcutta High Court on Wednesday for anticipatory bail and revoking the suspension.
Pallavi Chattopadhyay is one of the seven junior doctors suspended by the state government along with five senior doctors.
While filing the petition, the counsel for Chattopadhyay said the junior doctor was made a scapegoat in the death and illness of young mothers.
Five mothers who underwent the C-section at the Midnapore hospital between January 8 evening and January 9 morning fell ill after the procedure. One of them, Mamoni Ruidas, 30, passed away subsequently.
“The CID hurriedly started its inquiry and falsely implicated my client and her colleagues in the issue. The agency failed to concentrate on the actual issue — supply fake intravenous fluid in the hospital,” said the lawyer.
The petition is also seeking the quashing of the suspension.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced the suspensions of the 12 doctors in a news conference on January 16.
Probes had revealed that a doctor who should have been present at the Midnapore hospital during the Cesarean sections on the five women was performing surgeries 33km away, Mamata said at the news conference.
A 13-member probe team of doctors flagged negligence in their preliminary report submitted on January 13, after which the state government asked the CID to inquire into the case.
The chief minister had said that reports submitted by the doctors’ team and the CID “matched”.
The Joint Platform of Doctors, an umbrella association of several senior doctors’ associations, wrote to chief secretary Manoj Pant on Wednesday demanding that the suspensions be withdrawn.
“We also strongly demand before you to immediately revoke the administrative...unnecessary overreactions already unleashed upon 12 doctors...,” the email said.
“It is very much shocking that the whole tragedy was not scientifically judged with the desired level of comprehensive approach,” the email read.
Chief secretary Pant could not be contacted for comment.