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Could corruption probe at R.G. Kar Hospital mount Sandip Ghosh’s troubles?

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The troubles for former R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital principal Sandip Ghosh are mounting. The Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal has ordered an investigation into allegations of financial irregularities, since January 2021, at the institution, where a young trainee doctor was raped and murdered and outcry over its alleged cover-up prompted the courts to hand over the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by IPS officer Pranav Kumar, will look into the corruption allegations. The other members of the team are IPS officers Waquar Reza, Soma Das Mitra and Indira Mukherjee. Though the notice doesn’t name Ghosh, the time-frame of probe refers to the period he was principal of the medical college.

Ghosh had to step down in the face of protests over the hospital’s handling of the doctor’s rape-murder. A former student of the R.G. Kar Medical College himself, Ghosh had assumed charge as principal of the institution in 2021. Earlier, he served as the medical superintendent and vice-principal of the Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital.

Ghosh, 54, graduated from R.G. Kar Medical College in 1994 and received his post-graduation from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research Chandigarh. He joined service in the early 2000s.

Until a few years ago, R.G. Kar Medical College ranked 11 nationally and was considered the best in eastern India. In 2023, two years since Ghosh took over, it plummeted to the 91st rank nationally and to the fourth position in Bengal, according to the Indian Institutional Ranking Framework.

Ghosh has been transferred twice from the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in the past three years, but quickly reinstated—once within a couple of weeks and within hours another time. In fact, chief minister Mamata Banerjee was thought by many as throwing her weight behind Ghosh on August 12, when he resigned from his post and expressed his desire to quit government service altogether. Within hours, he was posted as the principal of the state-run Calcutta National Medical College, where protesting students refused to accept him.

“It is difficult to comprehend as to why when a person submits his resignation, the concerned authority of the state did not exercise the two options available—accept the resignation or refuse to accept the resignation,” the Calcutta High Court has observed while hearing petitions on the rape-murder case.

The court has come down heavily on Ghosh for failing to carry out his responsibilities as principal of the R.G. Kar Medical College, since it was expected of him to lodge an FIR after the doctor’s body was discovered in the hospital.

Meanwhile, amidst the controversy, the West Bengal Orthopaedic Association has debarred Ghosh from all academic activities under its banner until he comes clean.

Multiple formal complaints have been lodged against Ghosh in the past few months—one as late as April. On April 24, the Tala police station received a complaint from an individual, Biswanath Das, accusing Ghosh of fraud on multiple counts. Two of the primary allegations against him were that he was running a racket that unlawfully collected biomedical waste from the hospital and trafficked it; the second, that he had allegedly used bodies sent to the hospital by the police for post-mortem for an ENT workshop without the permission of the law enforcers or families of the deceased.

An advocate, Akshya Kumar Sarangi, had filed two petitions in the Kolkata High Court, demanding the removal of Ghosh from the R.G. Kar institution for the mismanagement of biomedical waste and corpses.

Then, Akhtar Ali, a former deputy superintendent (non-medical) of R.G. Kar hospital, had written to the state vigilance commission against Ghosh. “I have knocked every possible door. But there has been no fruitful action against him so far,” Ali, now posted in the Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital, told INDIA TODAY.

Ali was the convenor of an investigating committee set up to look into the allegations of mismanagement of biomedical waste at the R.G. Kar Hospital. “While our investigation led to some small fries, we realised that a bigger network was behind it, which was led by Dr Ghosh,” alleged Ali.

Ali claimed that during the Covid-19 pandemic, by order of the principal, the hospital had purchased high-flow nasal oxygenation machines at Rs 4.3 lakh a piece, excluding 12 per cent GST. However, similar machines were purchased by hospitals like Sri Aurobindo Seva Kendra in Kolkata at Rs 1.8 lakh per piece and by the Narayana Super Speciality Hospital in Howrah at Rs 1.35 lakh a piece.

“The worst thing he (Ghosh) did was criminalise his students. He has his group of student doctors who would do the dirty work for him,” claimed a former woman professor of R.G. Kar Medical College, who used to serve as the head of one of the departments.

Sources claimed that at least six former students of the college, four house staff and five interns constituted the core group of Ghosh’s alleged nexuses. They would collect money on his behalf, threaten other students and professors.

Anjan Sinha, father of Zuneet Sinha, an MBBS student at R.G. Kar Medical College, claimed Ghosh had been vindictive towards his son. Speaking to INDIA TODAY, he said Zuneet and his friends had lodged a protest in 2022 for better amenities for the students. Once the agitation concluded, Ghosh allegedly ensured that Zuneet failed in his examinations. “My son is a brilliant student. But he had to pass through supplementary examinations. This was not just him. Other students suffered too,” alleged Sinha.

But where does Ghosh draw his ‘powers’ from? The BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, who is leader of the Opposition in the Bengal legislative assembly, has claimed that Ghosh is close to Shyamapada Das, a private doctor who, in Adhikari’s words, is close to Mamata. Ghosh, Adhikari alleged, is a member of the ‘North Bengal’ lobby that calls the shots in the state health department.

However, Sreerampur MLA Sudipta Roy, a member of the West Bengal Medical Council and chairman of the R.G. Kar Rogi Kalyan Samiti, thinks highly of Ghosh. “He has been a little strict but is an able administrator and good teacher,” said Roy, denying the existence of any ‘North Bengal’ lobby. INDIA TODAY’s phone calls to Ghosh and Shyamapada Das on the allegations went unanswered.

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Published By:

Shyam Balasubramanian

Published On:

Aug 20, 2024

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