Patient services were affected at the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital on Tuesday as more than 100 medical students gheraoed the principal and other senior doctors demanding that the students’ union election be held on December 22, as decided earlier.
The central laboratory of the hospital, where all pathological tests for indoor patients are performed, did not function for nearly three hours till noon, officials said.
This gherao started on Monday afternoon, after a meeting of the college council decided to postpone the election, and was continuing till late on Tuesday.
Between Monday afternoon and Tuesday evening, three women — the nursing superintendent and two senior doctors — were allegedly not allowed to come out.
No students’ union election has been held at Calcutta Medical College since 2016, said the students.
An official of the hospital said the heads of several departments and a number of senior doctors and professors were not allowed to leave, affecting the service.
“It is natural that some services will be impacted if so many senior doctors could not visit their departments,” said an official of the hospital. “If a department head is not able to work, the functioning of the department gets affected.”
The families of some patients who were denied treatment on Tuesday petitioned Calcutta High Court. The matter will come up for hearing before Justice Rajasekhar Mantha on Wednesday.
The lawyer who appeared for the families informed the judge that students of the medical college were demanding union election.
“The situation worsened as nurses of the hospital became aggrieved because the nursing superintendent was gheraoed by the students. Normal functioning of the hospital has been affected by the protests. Patients who came to the hospital are being harassed,” the lawyer submitted.
Indranil Biswas, principal of the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, said the election could not be held on December 22 because of two technical reasons.
“The state finance department’s nod is needed to conduct the elections. The poll expenses will be borne by the state government. I have been told that at a time when the state is taking austerity measures, expenses for the students’ union election may not be allowed. I have written to the government for permission to hold the election,” he said.
He added “law and order arrangements” were also necessary for the union poll. “I have sought permission for law and order arrangements,” he said.
The protesting students sat in the passage leading to the principal’s office where the other doctors were also present.
The students denied that any service was affected. They blamed the non-functioning of the central laboratory on some staff of the hospital. “Some staff did not allow the central laboratory to function just to blame us,” said a protesting student.
