Madan Mitra

Calcutta, Nov. 20: Madan Mitra, DORB.

The letters do not represent the Bengal transport minister’s academic qualification but stand for “discharge on risk bond”.

The sterile abbreviation does not fully capture what Mitra, who has been summoned by the CBI in the Saradha case, accomplished today.

He simply tiptoed out of Belle Vue Clinic with a promise to aides that he would “just return” and surfaced around 1km away at SSKM Hospital.

Such was the haste that the DORB was filed and the bill of around Rs 60,000 paid after the minister left the private clinic, sources said. Clinic officials said Mitra had informed them before leaving. A DORB needs to be signed by the patient or relatives if the departure takes place before the doctor has declared the patient fit.

The unannounced scurry from the choice destination of the ruling establishment when in need of medical care to the premier government-run hospital in the state drew intense attention because Mitra was expected to undergo tumour-removal surgery at Belle Vue in the near future.

“We do not decide everything…. At times, orders have to be followed,” said a source close to the transport minister.

Yesterday, the minister had told this newspaper that his “only point of contact” was chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who was at New Delhi airport today when Mitra moved from Belle Vue to SSKM.

Switching medical facilities is an individual’s prerogative but Mitra’s shift drew attention because of the manner in which it was done and the circumstances.

The CBI had asked the minister to appear before the agency tomorrow. The agency was also apparently exploring the option of calling on the minister at the clinic if his health was standing in the way of a trip to the Salt Lake office of the CBI. Some sources claimed the central agency had dialled the clinic twice but Belle Vue officials denied it.

Admission to SSKM does not guarantee immunity from the CBI. A CBI officer said: “There is no stopping the bureau from questioning anyone anywhere, but certain decisions need clearances from the top. We are not in a hurry. Let him get treated and let doctors say he is fit.”

However, since the state government’s writ runs at SSKM, unlike the private clinic, procedural headaches could be created for would-be interrogators, officials said. Besides, Mitra himself wields considerable clout in the state-run hospital by virtue of being the co-chairman of the Rogi Kalyan Samity (patient welfare society) at SSKM.

For the state government, it is easier to keep an eye on Mitra, who was drawing unwelcome attention at the clinic, at the state-run SSKM than at the private establishment. “Policemen have been posted around his cabin…. This means, he is now fully under government control and that seems to have been the plan,” said a health department official.

The Opposition used the chance to rub it in. “He has gone to Didi’s shelter and that’s why he has shifted to SSKM…. It is easy to pressurise government doctors and manipulate reports. He is trying to run away from the CBI. But how long can he run?” asked Rahul Sinha, state BJP president.

Mitra’s departure caught the clinic by surprise but no one would speak on record. In private, some doctors said Mitra was scheduled to undergo surgery on two tumours around his spinal cord and there had been no question of discharging him in the coming few days.

“There was nothing wrong in the test reports and he could have undergone the surgery. I was about to inform him about that but learnt that he had left the hospital,” a critical care doctor said.

Clinic officials added that a five-member medical board led by Dr Sukumar Mukherjee had already been constituted by the time the minister decided to leave.

Mitra left the clinic at 3pm, skipping his home-made lunch. Stepping out of his fifth-floor suite, Mitra reportedly told those present that he would “just return” but never did so.

Eyewitnesses said two persons accompanied the minister — one of his close aides from the SSKM hospital and one of his lawyers. A section of Mitra’s guards outside his suite at the clinic were as clueless as the visitors seated inside the suite.

A little over an hour later, news spread that the minister had been admitted to the Woodburn Ward of SSKM Hospital, the one meant for VVIPs. By then, Mitra had sent one of his aides to complete the formalities at the clinic.

“He got admitted to SSKM Hospital, probably for better treatment,” said P. Tandon, the Clinic’s CEO. “It was his call and we have nothing to say.”

Mitra later said he had no complaints against the clinic but had opted for SSKM for “doctors round the clock”. “SSKM being a teaching hospital, there would be doctors on call 24x7. In a private hospital, it would take several hours to get the doctor to attend to me,” Mitra said.

At SSKM, Mitra was wheeled into a second-floor room of the Woodburn Ward — one of his neighbours is Sonali Guha, Trinamul MLA and deputy Speaker — where a battery of doctors under Dr Ritabrata Mitra took charge of the patient.