Doctors in Kolkata have taken to the streets once again as they sat in a dharna throughout Monday night in front of the West Bengal Medical Council (WBMC). The sit-in protest, which is ongoing, is in response to the reinstatement of Abhik De and Birupaksha Biswas into the council.
They were previously “debarred” from the WBMC following the rape and murder incident at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. They were allegedly part of the nexus that ran “threat cultures”, intimidating students to pay for passing exams and manipulating staff transfers and postings at state government hospitals.
They were also accused of being close associates of Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of RG Kar who has been arrested in connection with the rape and murder case and alleged financial irregularities at the institution.
Biswas was a senior resident doctor in Burdwan Medical College and Hospital’s pathology department, while De was a postgraduate trainee in general surgery at the IPGMER SSKM Hospital. Both were linked to the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP), the students' wing of the ruling party.
They were also allegedly present in the seminar room on the third floor of RG Kar when the body of the trainee doctor was discovered on August 9. Their alleged presence at the crime scene raised concerns, as neither had any formal association with RG Kar.
In view of the situation, De, a member of the WBMC, and Biswas, a member of WBMC’s penal and ethics committee, were debarred from engaging in any activities related to the council. Meanwhile, they were also questioned by the CBI as part of the central agency’s ongoing investigation.
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The West Bengal Health Department established two four-member committees to investigate the allegations. One committee, led by the principal of Nil Ratan Sarkar Medical College and Hospital, was tasked with probing the accusations against De, while the other, headed by the principal of the College of Medicine & Sagore Dutta Hospital, focused on investigating the claims against Biswas.
However, after almost three months the two took part in a meeting of the WBMC on Monday, leading to protests by a section of doctors. Gathering under the banner of ‘Joint Forum for Doctors’, multiple organisations of doctors gheraoed the council office before staging a dharna in front of it throughout the night.
The council countered saying since no written complaints were filed against them and their names were not included in the CBI chargesheet, the decision to revoke their debarment was withdrawn. Also, none of the allegations against them have been proven so far.
Members of the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front, who spearheaded the statewide protests following the RG Kar incident, also joined the demonstration. The debarring of De and Biswas was seen by doctors as a key victory of their movement.
The reinstatement of the two is viewed by the protesters as a blatant disregard for their demands by the state government. They further allege that the inclusion of individuals accused of operating syndicates and fostering a culture of intimidation marks a resurgence of political interference in the healthcare sector.
On the same day, the West Bengal health department also announced the names of the government representatives in the Rogi Kalyan Samity (patient welfare committee) in the state’s 24 medical colleges and hospitals.
Previously, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee dissolved the existing welfare committees and announced that, unlike earlier practices where political leaders served as chairpersons of these committees, the respective principals of medical colleges would now hold these positions.