A West Bengal doctors’ forum has written to Lok Sabha member Abhishek Banerjee, nephew of the state’s chief minister Mamata Banerjee, demanding an unconditional public apology for his statement regarding a patient’s death at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. Banerjee had claimed that a man died after not receiving timely treatment at the hospital.
The doctors at RG Kar have been protesting since the tragic rape and murder of a trainee medic at the hospital on August 9.
In their letter to Banerjee, the Joint Platform of Doctors, West Bengal, expressed deep concern over his comments, describing them as “untrue” and “malicious.” The forum clarified that the patient, a road accident victim with polytrauma, had been referred to RG Kar from Srirampur and was promptly admitted on September 6 at 9:10 am. Medical staff attended to him continuously until his unfortunate death at 12:30 pm, as documented in the death certificate.
The forum stated that Banerjee’s claim that the patient “bled for three hours without receiving care” was baseless and discredited the efforts of the doctors who tried to save the man’s life. They urged Banerjee to correct his “dangerous” remarks, warning that such statements could have negative repercussions for the already strained medical community in the aftermath of the August 9 incident.
The rape and murder at RG Kar, which has sparked national outrage, is under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and has also been taken up by the Supreme Court for suo motu consideration.