State govt accepts doctors’ demand, removes 3 senior officials of RG Kar Hospital

Kolkata: Accepting the demands of the protesting doctors who earlier in the day led a march to Swasthya Bhawan to place their demands, including the removal of senior RG Kar Medical College officials who were on duty on the day the alleged rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor occurred, the state Health department on Wednesday evening removed three senior officials of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, including the newly appointed principal, from their current positions and transferred them to other hospitals.

Dr Suhrita Paul, current principal of RG Kar, will now act as principal Barasat Government Medical College.

Earlier in the day, a delegation of doctors met senior health officials at Swasthya Bhawan and placed certain demands, including the removal of the senior officials who were on duty at RG Kar on the day of the incident.

Meanwhile, the medical fraternity from various hospitals and medical colleges across the state took out a rally from the CGO Complex to Swasthya Bhavan demanding a swift probe by the CBI into the alleged rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee (PGT) doctor at RK Kar Medical College.

Hundreds of junior and senior doctors as well as medical students hit the streets at Salt Lake demanding justice for the woman doctor.

The protest march started from the CGO complex and culminated near Swasthya Bhavan.

A protesting doctor near the CGO complex said that the said complex houses the office of the special crime unit of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which is conducting the probe into the RG Kar incident.

“A week has passed since the CBI officials have started the investigation process and we are yet to get any information about any significant progress in the probe process. So, we started our rally from the CGO complex to send a subtle message to the CBI,” the doctor said.

The rally covered around 4 km, starting from the CGO Complex, which houses the CBI office, and ended near Swasthya Bhavan.

The doctors alleged that the new Principal of RG Kar Medical College Dr Suhrita Pal did not remain present at the hospital.

The protesting doctors’ rally was, however, stopped by the Bidhannagar Police a few meters away from Swasthya Bhawan.

The agitating doctors had said that a sit-in demonstration would continue till their demands were met.

Bidhannagar Police had made adequate security arrangements in Salt Lake to tackle the situation.