Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday condemned an attack on junior doctors of SSKM Hospital and said the trauma care centre that was vandalised was built with a lot of effort and money.
She said she had called up the superintendent of SSKM Hospital and said “sorry” for the attack on doctors. Her government will provide all protection to doctors, she said.
“I called the super and said sorry. Since the death happened at night, they managed to sneak in. They heckled, manhandled two junior doctors,” she said. “The state government will give full protection to the junior doctors.”
Five persons have been arrested in connection with the attack on the doctors and the vandalism, but Mamata also blamed the police for the incident. She said “negligence” on the part of the police allowed outsiders to sneak into the ward.
Following the death of a person at the trauma care centre, some people related to the deceased went inside and assaulted the doctors around 3.30am on Monday, said an official of the state health department.
The chief minister, who is also the home and health minister, said senior doctors should be present in hospitals at night. Only two junior doctors had treated the deceased man, she said.
“There were only two junior doctors then. This is related to an accident case that is four-five days old. Doctors tried their best for four-five days,” Mamata said.
“ Whenever someone young dies, it is natural for the family to feel very sad but they should not do this,” she said. “We made the trauma care centre with a lot of effort and after spending a lot of money.”
The police identified the accused as Parvez Alam, 34, and Sadab Alam, 32, from Metiabruz; Mohammad Sonu, 26, Mohammad Awad, 39, and Mohammad Ahsan, 26, from Hooghly district.
A police officer in the south division said a case had been registered with Bhowanipore police station under the IPC sections related to rioting and deterring public servant from discharge of duty; the West Bengal Medicare Service Persons and Medicare Service Institutions (Preventions of Violence and Damage to Property) Act, 2009; Section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984; and Section 9 of the West Bengal Maintenance of Public Order Act, 1972.
Speaking at the Kolkata airport before leaving for Delhi, the chief minister questioned why the police had left the place early. “The police were supposed to have a permanent camp there. I asked the police why they left after the family took away the body.”
“They came back after the incident happened. They were supposed to have a permanent camp there. So there is negligence on the part of the police, too.”
A health department official said they held a review meeting with SSKM officials and police on how to ensure better security.
The trauma care centre has been set up to deal with emergency cases, road accident victims and other trauma injuries.
Mamata was not happy about the absence of senior doctors at the centre at night. “There should be senior doctors at night, too. There was no senior doctor,” she said.
The health department official said the department would soon frame a policy on how to respond to emergency cases in the presence of senior doctors.