The Bengal government has revoked the suspensions of the junior doctors of Midnapore Medical College and Hospital who had been accused of negligence in C-section surgeries that had led to the death of a new mother and landed four others in the ICU in January.
Seven junior doctors had been benched following the death of 30-year-old Mamoni Ruidas. Three of the four other new mothers had to be rushed to Calcutta for treatment.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said a probe was under way and insisted that there was “negligence”. She added that senior doctors should not have let their juniors perform C-section surgeries as such procedures needed expertise.
“I am revoking the suspension of the junior doctors keeping their future in mind,” Mamata said to loud cheers at a doctors’ convention at the Dhana Dhanyo auditorium
in Calcutta.
“Junior doctors will become seniors one day. There was negligence in the Midnapore case. It is under investigation and I will not say anything till the probe is complete.... It is true they were still not adept. It should not have been left to them.”
The surgeries were performed during January 8-9 night.
The suspensions had evoked protests by several doctors’ organisations that claimed the post-mortem had not suggested negligence.
One of the junior doctors, a senior resident, had moved Calcutta High Court.
On Monday, junior doctors welcomed the development. “We thank her for revoking the suspension. The West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front has been calling this suspension illegal since the first day. But we would have been happier if the chief minister had mentioned the actual reason behind the woman’s death,” a junior doctor, not among those suspended, said.
The state government had also suspended five senior doctors, including the medical superintendent of the hospital and the head of the gynaecology department, for“negligence”. Their suspensions have not been revoked.
At a news conference in January, Mamata had said a preliminary probe had revealed that a senior doctor who should have been present at the Midnapore hospital during the C-sections on the five women was performing surgeries 33km away.
Another on-duty senior doctor, too, was absent during the surgeries, the chief minister had said.
On Monday, Mamata asked senior doctors not to delegate all responsibilities to junior doctors and to spend at least eight hours a day in their hospitals.
“Please do not leave all responsibilities relating to heart surgeries and C-sections on junior doctors. Please provide at least eight hours of service at government hospitals. I have no problem if you do private practice after that but do not leave before eight hours,” Mamata added.