It?s been four years since Mihir Banerjee lost his 12-year-old daughter, Ishita. His battle for ?justice? continues, despite the state medical council turning down his appeal of medical negligence, and also, ignoring a government directive of initiating a fresh inquiry.

In 2001, Ishita, while being treated by Abhijit Roy, a neighbourhood doctor, started vomiting and collapsed.

?The medicines administered by the doctor were wrong and had not had any effect. After getting over the initial shock, I decided to take up the issue with the West Bengal Medical Council,? said Banerjee, who works in the office of the Comptroller and Auditor-General.

The medical council?s penal and ethics cases committee on February 18, 2003, dismissed the case after it failed to find any evidence of medical negligence.

Shocked at the decision, Banerjee lodged a complaint with the state health department?s appellate authority and then approached officials of the Kunal Saha-floated People for Better Treatment (PBT) for advice. ?While my first move was right, the decision to go to the PBT seems to have backfired,? laments Banerjee.

The state health department?s appellate authority ?set aside? the medical council?s verdict and ordered an independent inquiry.

In his order, Asim Barman, immediate past principal secretary (health), observed that the ?penal and ethics cases committee, a fact-finding body, did not make any independent inquiry in the issue relating to the alleged prescription of wrong medicines and issuing of the death certificate?.

The health department also observed that the ?committee did not go into the merit of the case? before disposing of the petition.

Further criticising the state medical council, Barman had observed that the ?report of the penal and ethics cases committee appeared to be totally perfunctory and bereft of any cogent reason? The decision taken by the council on such a report cannot be considered a sound one and, as such, it cannot be sustained in law?. The health department also asked the council to conduct an independent inquiry.

Several months have elapsed, but the state medical council has not carried out the order. ?Repeated requests to the council has failed to evoke any response. It has simply ignored the appellate authority?s report,? Banerjee said.

D.K. Ghosh, registrar at the state medical council office, held out an assurance that he would look into the matter at the earliest.

Earlier this year, Banerjee moved the Medical Council of India. ?I was described as a PBT member there. Several members said that it would never pay off if I went to PBT,? Banerjee recalled.

His worst fears soon came true. The MCI, in its verdict, stated that the ?ethics committee endorses the views and the decision of West Bengal Medical Council, as well as that of the appellate authority, in this regard that no negligence on the part of the doctor could be substantiated?.

Flummoxed by the outcome, Banerjee has now appealed to the Union health ministry for redress. ?I am at my wit?s end, because the appellate authority has already set aside the state medical council?s order. The MCI had not even bothered to check on the facts,? he said.