Appointment of WB Med Council registrar cancelled

Kolkata: State Health department on Wednesday cancelled the appointment of Manas Chakraborty, the registrar of the West Bengal Medical Council (WBMC) and also urged the president of the West Bengal Medical Council to “arrange for appointment” of a new registrar.

Chakraborty has been removed from the post of registrar more than five years after he was re-appointed.

In the letter sent to the president of the West Bengal Medical Council, Dr Sudipto Roy by a senior special secretary of the health department stated that Chakraborty was reemployed without previous sanction.

“It has been brought to the notice of the state government that Manas Chakraborty has been appointed as Registrar to West Bengal Medical Council on re-employment since 1.11.2019 without previous sanction of the government following statutory provisions laid down in section 14 of the (1) Bengal Medical Act, 1914,” reads the letter.

Section 14 (1) of the Bengal Medical Act, 1914 states that the council must appoint a registrar with the previous sanction of the local government. It was learnt that the registration of doctors in Bengal was last updated on January 31, 2022, and is valid till December 31, 2026. After the RG Kar incident, several doctors’ organisations demanded the removal of Chakraborty from the post of WBMC registrar alleging that his reappointment was made flouting standard norms.

In a parallel development, WBMC president Dr Roy has recommended the state Health department to replace Dr Santanu Sen who was a state government-nominated member at the WBMC. In a letter to the health secretary, Dr Roy alleged that Dr Sen was irregular in the council meeting.

Apart from Dr Sen, there are two others who are the nominated members of the state government in the WBMC. They are Dr Nirmal Maji and Dr Sourav Pal.

Meanwhile, in another development, the state Health department has served a show cause notice to around 40 odd nursing homes in South 24-Parganas for not renewing their license on time.

The authorities of all these nursing homes have been directed to give a clarification otherwise action may be taken against them.