Patients suffer as protest intensifies in West Bengal

A three-day-old baby boy with foetal distress died at a government hospital in West Bengal on Thursday after remaining untreated since his birth, the death encapsulating the sufferings of hundreds of people since Tuesday when junior doctors across government hospitals struck work to protest an assault on colleagues.
Soon after the baby’s birth on Tuesday, doctors at the College of Medicine and Sagore Dutta Hospital in North 24-Parganas district had told his parents that he needed paediatric ventilation.
Since the hospital did not have facilities for this, the family was asked to transfer him to a hospital in Kolkata.
However, the parents were not able to step into Kolkata’s government hospitals. Weeping with his newborn’s body in his lap, Abhijit Mallick said, “The note that Sagore Dutta’s Hospital doctors left with us said that the baby was in critical condition.
“But the police did not let us enter NRS Medical College and Hospital, RG Kar Medical College and Hospital and the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital. We approached two private hospitals but they did not have ventilation facility for babies.”
Mallick said a junior doctor of Sagore Dutta Hospital telephoned the state health secretariat four times to try and arrange help for the baby but failed. “The doctor himself broke down,” he said. His wife Jhumpa, who has been unwell since the delivery, is mentally broken.
“The baby was detected with ‘foetal distress’ (birth asphyxia). We kept him at the sick newborn care unit (SNCU) and tried the best that was possible for us,” hospital superintendent Palas Das told the media.
The junior doctors’ strike that got support from most senior doctors severely hit the functioning of outpatient departments (OPD) at government hospitals.
The crisis spread to indoor wards and emergency departments too. Radiology and pathology departments were also affected.
“If junior doctors, who form the bulk of medics in any hospital, stay away from work, it’s natural that seniors cannot fill the gap. And since many senior doctors expressed their intention to resign, one can imagine the situation,” said a senior doctor at Howrah district hospital, not wishing to be named.
Several tragic scenes were seen at state-run hospitals.
At Kolkata’s SSKM hospital, the largest referral hospital in the state, Sandhya Mondal was seen crying incessantly. Her daughter Pratima suffered an epileptic fit on Sunday and was transferred from a government hospital in East Midnapore district on Monday. She died on Thursday.
“She received the last treatment on Monday. Since Tuesday, she received no treatment,” said Mondal.
At Midnapore Medical College and Hospital, the family members of 17-year old Sheikh Samim, who was admitted to the hospital after suffering head injuries, alleged that he died untreated.
Tension prevailed also in North Bengal Medical College and Hospital in Siliguri that caters to around 4,000 outdoor patients every day.
On Friday, several hundred family members of patients protested at the hospital, demanding immediate reopening of OPDs.
“My daughter suffers from neurological problems. We spent the nights of Wednesday and Thursday on the hospital campus, hoping that OPDs would resume functioning,” said Khagesh Barman, who came from Chengrabanda near the Bangladesh border.
Rabiul Islam, a resident of Sujapur in Malda, said his sister-in-law, who is suffering from throat cancer, could not be treated in Malda Medical College and Hospital as they found the OPD closed after travelling more than 30 km in the heat.
From Siliguri to Kolkata, the scene was the same — hundreds of patients and their family members waiting at hospitals, sometimes even outside the hospital gates.
-
Frame policy within 3 months to compensate fisherfolk: SC tells state
Mumbai The Supreme Court instructed the Maharashtra government on May 13 to expedite framing of a policy to compensate fisherfolk affected by state-funded development projects, and finalise the policy within a period of three months. The apex court was hearing an appeal by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation, challenging the disbursement of ₹10 crore compensation to fisherfolk affected by the Thane Creek Bridge-III project.
-
PU row: Safeguard Punjab’s interests, SGPC tells state govt
Days after the Punjab and Haryana high court directed the Union government to consider conversion of Panjab University, Chandigarh, into a central varsity, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee on Wednesday asked the Punjab government to make serious efforts to stop any such move and protect its existing status.
-
Bengaluru: Two men spray paint ‘sorry’ on school walls, streets
Two men spray painted the word 'sorry' in red all over the premises of a private school and on surrounding streets in Bengaluru's Sunkadakatte area on Tuesday. Police said efforts to trace those behind the incident are ongoing. Two bike-borne persons were seen in CCTV footage recovered from the street across the Shanthidhama School. The DCP of West Bengaluru, Dr Sanjeev Patil told reporters that efforts are on to identify and trace the miscreants.
-
21-year-old arrested for killing lover, dumping body in railway tracks
Mumbai A 21-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly killing Khairnar's friend, stuffing Sarika Damodar Chalke (26), who was reported missing by family members at the Dindoshi police station's body in a gunny bag and dumping it on the railway tracks between Matunga and Mahim on Tuesday. Senior police inspector Mumbai Central Government Railway Police station, Kedari Pawar, said that two trackmen had noticed the gunny bag in the tracks between Matunga and Mahim stations at about 9.30 am on Tuesday.
-
Polls to seven MLC seats in Karnataka set to be "unopposed"
The biennial election to seven seats of Karnataka Legislative Council scheduled for June three, is set to be "unopposed", as all the seven nominations filed are in order. The ruling BJP has fielded former Deputy Chief Minister and party vice-president Laxman Savadi, party's state secretaries Hemalatha Nayak and S Keshavaprasad, and president of SC Morcha Chalavadi Narayanaswamy in the MLC elections in which the Members of the Legislative Assembly will vote.