West Bengal leader of the opposition (LoP) Suvendu Adhikari on Friday led a march in Kolkata in protest of the alleged use of banned Ringer’s Lactate (RL) saline in the Midnapore Medical College & Hospital (MMCH), which led to one maternal death and injured several others.
The West Bengal government, meanwhile, has attributed the death at MMCH to medical negligence and, following preliminary investigations by the CID and a 13-member expert committee from the state health department, suspended 12 doctors.
BJP MLAs Agnimitra Paul and Shankar Ghosh, along with party leaders Shankudeb Panda and Kaustav Bagchi, among others, attended Friday's protest march from Kolkata's College Square to Mohammad Ali Park. LoP Adhikari asked the state government to publish the list of patients administered with RL saline.
The BJP leader also demanded that appropriate action be taken against Paschmi Banga Pharmaceuticals Limited, manufacturer of the disputed saline. “Instead of taking action against the company which made the RL saline, the state has taken action against doctors. Doctors are our national asset,” he said.
The legislator from Nandigram also asked the state to compensate the victim’s family with Rs 50 lakh and the families of those who fell ill with Rs 10 lakh.
LoP Adhikari also called for the resignations and arrests of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who also serves as the state’s health & family welfare minister, as well as health & family welfare department secretary Narayan Swaroop Nigam.
Meanwhile, the West Bengal government dismissed allegations regarding the RL saline, asserting that the batch supplied to MMCH had undergone proper testing.
Earlier this month, during a joint press conference with CM Banerjee, Chief Secretary Manoj Pant, and Nigam announced that the state had stopped procuring medical supplies from Paschim Banga Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
