WBMC suspends licence of 2 Apollo docs over death of accident victim

Kolkata: The West Bengal Medical Council (WBMC) has suspended the licence of two doctors of Apollo Gleneagles Hospital for one year and six months respectively after they were found responsible for the death of Sanjay Roy, an accident victim brought to the private hospital with multiple injuries.

WBMC has taken action on Thursday by suspending the medical licence of senior doctors - Dr Usha Goenka and Dr Shyamal Sarkar for a period of one year and six months respectively. The decision was taken after the WBMC found serious lapses on their part.

Sanjoy Roy, a resident of Dankuni, met with a road accident near Howrah's Baltikuri in February last year following which he was taken to the emergency ward of Apollo Gleneagles Hospital at around 2 pm.

He sustained injuries in his chest and abdomen. The liver was badly lacerated which led to an internal haemorrhage. Senior doctor surgeon Dr Shyamal Sarkar and radiologist Dr Usha Goenka kept him under their observation.

The post-mortem report of the victim confirmed that he had four deep injury marks in various parts of his body. But the doctors in the hospital did not mention about an internal injury which might have led to the death of the victim. It was believed that the injury that remained undetected by the hospital despite a series of tests performed on the patient resulted in internal bleeding and eventually his death.

The patient was later shifted to SSKM Hospital where he died.

The family members of the victim also accused the private hospital of charging arbitrarily. State Health department later formed an inquiry committee following the instruction of the Chief Minister. The victim's wife had met Chief Minister Banerjee seeking her intervention in this regard.

The doctors at SSKM Hospital later told the members of the inquiry committee that the patient was bleeding from inside when he was taken to the state-run hospital from Apollo Gleneagles Hospital. They also told the committee that the patient died of excessive bleeding.

However, a spokesperson for the private hospital said: "We are yet to receive the official order from the WBMC and shall be able to comment on the subject only after we receive it."

Many people have raised questions on how a super specialty hospital like Apollo Gleneagles could not detect the injury in a patient and instead charged his relatives arbitrarily.

The report submitted by the inquiry committee also hinted that the hospital authorities made added extra costs in the bill not which is inconsistent with the treatment and facilities that was provided to the patient.

An FIR was also lodged at the local police station by the family members of the victim on the basis of which police started a separate probe into the incident.