RG Kar tragedy: New Principal, two other officials transferred

KOLKATA — In a late-night development, the West Bengal Health Department on Wednesday announced the transfer of three top officials of state-run R.G Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata, including its new Principal and Vice Principal.

Apart from the newly-appointed Principal Suhrita Pal, the newly-appointed Medical Superintendent & Vice Principal Bulbul Mukhopadhyay and the head of the institute’s Chest Medicine Department Dr Arunava Duta Chowdhury were also shifted out.

According to state Health Secretary Narayan Swarup Nigam, the decision was taken honouring the demand of the protesting junior doctors and medical students of R.G Kar Medical College & Hospital in particular and the representatives of the medical fraternity in general in order to resume normal medical services in the health sector of the state.

At the same time, Nigam announced that the state government has also withdrawn its earlier notification for appointing former R.G Kar Principal Sandip Ghosh as the Principal of Calcutta National Medical College & Hospital (CNMCH).

Earlier in the day, the representatives of the medical fraternity took out a protest rally to the Swastha Bhavan, the state Health Department headquarters.

There a delegation of protesting doctors met the Department officials and handed over a memorandum enlisting their demands. The demands included the withdrawal of the notification for appointing Ghosh as CNMCH Principal and the removal of Pal as the current RG Kar Principal.

After coming out after the meeting, the delegation members said that they did not receive any firm commitment from the state Health Department officials that their demands would be fulfilled. The protesting doctors also asserted that they would be continuing with their agitation unless their demands were fulfilled. It is probably due to this all-round pressure, the state government decided to accept some of the demands of the protesting doctors and shift the officials concerned.