A file picture of an eye camp

Raiganj, March 31: Three eye-specialists attached to the district hospital here have been accused of staying away from a free eye camp organised by police for BPL families from Raiganj town and its surrounding areas.

District magistrate (DM) Sukumar Bhattacharyya, in a letter despatched yesterday, has asked the health department to see if the salary of these doctors can be stopped.

The camp, planned as an annual event, was inaugurated at the Kaliaganj police station on Saturday with hundreds of people turning up for the free service, which included check-up as well as medicines, spectacles and surgeries for those who need them.

However, no eye-specialists from Raiganj District Hospital were present.

The doctors stayed away from the camp on Sunday as well, despite an appeal from the North Dinajpur chief medical officer of health (CMOH), Sudhangshu Shekhar Saoo.

Their absence forced the DM to contact his counterparts in Malda and South Dinajpur and request them for doctors. Today, one of the eye-specialists from Raiganj Hospital, A. K. Mukherjee, arrived at the camp at 10am but left soon after. As a result, the organisers had to fall back on the doctors from the neighbouring districts, said police superintendent Swapan Banerjee Purnapatra.

While the check-up is complete, the surgeries are supposed to be held on April 6.

Bhattacharyya spoke out against the absent doctors at a meeting held yesterday to review the pulse polio programme in the district.

“I am astounded by the lack of humanity of the doctors at the district hospital. They neglected their official duties to indulge in private practice. They should resign from the health services immediately,” the DM said.

Bhattacharyya said he had asked the CMOH to conduct a probe and try to freeze the salary of the doctors.

While none of the eye-specialists wanted to comment on the issue, Tapas Bhunia, a physician with the district hospital and a member of the state committee of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), blamed it on a “communication gap”.

“The eye-specialists were not consulted before the camp was planned. So there was a communication gap and hence the misunderstanding,” Bhunia said.

“I am looking into the matter,” the CMOH said.