Amidst the continuing outrage in Kolkata over the rape and murder of a female trainee doctor at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital (RGKMCH), the medical registration of Sandip Ghosh, its former principal, has been cancelled.
Numerous medical bodies had sought the cancellation of his registration after he was taken into the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody on September 14 in connection with the rape-murder case and financial irregularities at the RGKMCH.
The West Bengal Medical Council (WBMC) issued a show-cause notice on Mr. Ghosh on September 6. He was asked to send a formal reply within three days, but he failed to do so. Hence, the WBMC confirmed that his registration was cancelled under various provisions of the Bengal Medical Act. This comes after the West Bengal chapter of the Indian Medical Association too demanded that his registration be cancelled.
The WBMC order read: “Your name is removed from the Register of Registered Medical Practitioner being maintained by this council, with effect from 19th September 2024, in terms of the provisions contained under section 25(a) (ii) of the Bengal Medical Act.”
Security personnel stand guard in front of West Bengal Medical Council office during the doctors’ protest in Kolkata on September 19, 2024. | Photo Credit: PTI
‘Dissolve medical council’
Hundreds of senior doctors met outside the WBMC office on Thursday (September 19, 2024) to protest against the mishandling of the rape-murder case and corruption in the RGKMCH. They demanded that the WBMC be dissolved as many of its members had been accused of corruption and involvement in the case. “All tainted members holding posts in the WBMC should be removed,” they said.
They arrived at the WBMC to file a complaint, but could not enter the office as barricades had been placed by the police. A senior doctor at the protest site said, “We are peaceful doctors who have come to file a complaint. We do not understand why we are being stopped by the police when the WBMC belongs to all doctors.” Finally, nine of the representatives were allowed to go in and file the complaint.
An official at the WBMC said, “We are in agreement with the junior doctors demand to cancel Sandip Ghosh’s registration as a doctor, that is why we did it.”
A protesting senior doctor alleged that most of the WBMC members were either in jail or were facing probe. “Some day we will see all of them are in jail. The rot and corruption in our State’s medical system stems from this council. Because they have a lot of power to take action against people or suspend people’s registration or investigate people, they threaten people with this and sustain the threat culture. [WBMC members] Avik De, Birupaksha Biswas are all agents of this system.”
Published - September 19, 2024 10:22 pm IST
