Following the continuous protest by junior doctors at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata over the rape and murder of a colleague, the West Bengal government ordered some major changes . The state Health Department removed three senior officials from their positions at the hospital. It appointed Saptarshi Chatterjee in place of Dr Bulbul Mukhopadhyay, the medical superintendent and vice-principal. The government has withdrawn Suhrita Paul, who was appointed as the principal of the medical college during the agitation. Manas Kumar Bandyopadhyay will replace her. Additionally, Dr. Arunabha Datta Chaudhuri, the head of the chest medicine department, has been transferred to Malda Medical College and Hospital.
Senior Officials Transferred After Protests
The protests began after the horrible rape and murder of a junior doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, leading to wide-scale unrest in the medical fraternity. These changes were given the demands of action and accountability raised by the junior doctors. Transfer of Health Department officials done viewing agitators’ concerns The move to transfer the Health Department officials has been done given the concerns expressed by the agitators and to bring normalcy to the functioning of the hospital.
The West Bengal government has reacted in the case of Dr Sandeep Ghosh too, following demands in this regard. He was appointed principal of CNMCH days after he resigned from RG Kar Hospital. The appointment came days after a rape-murder incident shook a Kolkata school. The protests over this appointment continued with renewed vigour and finally elicited a response from the Calcutta High Court. His appointment at CNMCH was cancelled as part of the government’s response to the ongoing unrest and Dr. Ghosh is currently being questioned by the CBI. He was questioned for the sixth consecutive day on Wednesday.
Key Official Changes To Calm Protesters
Media briefing after the changes, Narayan Swarup Nigam, Principal Secretary of the Health Department said, ‘We are bringing in some changes as per the demands of the junior doctors for which we have no objection. We want normalcy to be back and health care services to be regularised. Security arrangements have also been enhanced.’
The reshuffle of key officials at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital is, in fact, a part of the state government’s attempt at restoring order and calming agitated junior doctors who have been agitating for a long time now. Some of these adjustments would definitely bring an improvement in security and management of the institution, and people’s trust in the institution would be regained, ensuring continuity of health services.
