Bengal govt seeks details of resident doctors in all medical colleges

Kolkata:  The West Bengal Health Department through a notification has sought detailed information about all resident doctors from the medical colleges and hospitals in the state.

The information sought by the state health department on Saturday includes the registration numbers, Aadhaar and PAN numbers, mobile numbers and details of their academic records. The posts of resident medical officers and senior residents are non-practicing posts which means they are not allowed to do private practice beyond hospital duty.

Although no reason has been spelt out by the state health department for seeking such details, the development has created ripples among the members of the medical fraternity amid the continuing protest over the ghastly rape and murder of a junior doctor of state-run R.G Kar Medical College & Hospital within the hospital premises last month.

The notification is considered significant by the representatives of the medical fraternity also in the backdrop of the suspension of two resident medical officers and one senior resident doctor attached to two state-run medical colleges and hospitals. The three were known to be close confidants of Sandip Ghosh, the former and controversial principal of the West Bengal Medical Council.

Ghosh is currently in the custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) because of his alleged links with the financial irregularities case in R.G. Kar.

There are piling complaints against the two suspended resident medical officers and one senior resident for harassing and threatening the junior doctors by using their political clouts as a shield.

The three suspended doctors are Avik De, the erstwhile resident medical officer (RMO) of the radiodiagnosis department of Burdwan Medical College; Dr Birupaksha Biswas, the former senior resident doctor attached to the pathology department of the same hospital, and resident medical officer of Midnapore Medical College & Hospital Mustafizur Rahaman Mallick.

A crucial hearing on the ghastly rape and murder is scheduled at the Supreme Court on Monday when CBI is supposed to submit its progress report on the investigation in the matter.