KOLKATA: The ongoing partial cease-work at a state-run medical college and hospital at Midnapore in West Midnapore district of West Bengal over the suspension of 12 doctors has been lifted from Wednesday morning.
The 12 doctors, six seniors and six juniors, were suspended following the death of a woman and a newborn baby allegedly after being administered expired Ringer’s Lactate earlier this month.
Hospital insiders said that the partial cease-work, which was affecting the normal functioning at the emergency department and outpatient department (OPD) of the hospital, had been lifted following a communique from the office of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee requesting the agitating doctors to withdraw the strike and assuring them of the possibilities of revoking the suspension soon.
The 12 suspended doctors included the medical superintendent-cum-vice principal (MSVP) and resident medical officer (RMO) of that hospital.
Earlier this month five women had fallen sick at the hospital allegedly after being administered the expired Ringer’s Lactate.
First Mamoni Ruidas, one of the five women, and thereafter the newborn of Rekha Shaw, another among the five women, also died.
When the state was on the boil over allegations of administration of the expired Ringer’s Lactate supplied by an entity Paschim Banga Pharmaceuticals Private Limited, the Chief Minister at a press conference said the negligence of the attending doctors was the reason behind the mishaps and also announced the suspension of the 12 doctors. On that day she had given a virtually clear chit to the said entity and claimed that had it been the case then there would have been similar mishap reports from other state-run hospitals where Ringer’s Lactate supplied by the same entity were being administered.
On that day she had also announced a parallel probe in the matter by the Criminal Investigation (CID) of West Bengal Police besides the ongoing probe by the team of clinical experts from the state health department.
However, recently a team of clinical experts submitted a report not ruling out the possibility of an adverse impact of injection of essential liquids like Ringers’ Lactate and oxytocin triggering the mishaps. The committee also said that the batch of Ringers’ Lactate and oxytocin has already been forwarded for more sophisticated clinical examination. The committee, sources added, has also advised that till the report on this count arrives it is advisable to avoid the use of such clinical liquids of the same batch.