On September 27, a tragic incident at the College of Medicine and Sagore Dutta Hospital in Kolkata sparked outrage and violence after a young woman named Ranjana Shaw passed away, allegedly due to the negligence of doctors. Her husband, Navin Kumar Shaw, has since lodged an FIR accusing hospital staff of failing to attend to his wife despite his repeated pleas for help. This unfortunate death triggered a furious reaction from her family, leading to an altercation with junior doctors and nursing staff. The confrontation has led to arrests and a hospital-wide protest for better security measures.

According to Navin's complaint, Ranjana had been suffering from breathing difficulties, and her condition began to deteriorate rapidly. In the early hours of September 27, he brought her to the hospital, where doctors provided some cursory treatment before discharging her after only two hours. However, once home, Ranjana’s condition worsened, forcing Navin to rush her back to the hospital later that afternoon.

Navin alleges that despite his urgent requests for medical attention, the doctors were reluctant to attend to his wife. Instead, they were huddled in a room, chatting, and brushed off his concerns. “We pleaded with the doctors, begging them to start treatment immediately so that our three-and-a-half-year-old daughter wouldn’t lose her mother,” Navin recounted in his FIR. The doctors, however, allegedly responded dismissively, telling him that they would intervene when they deemed it necessary and asked him not to instruct them on their job.

As Ranjana's condition worsened, her family repeatedly called for help, but it wasn’t until her condition became critical that medical personnel finally attended to her. By that time, it was too late. The doctors pronounced Ranjana dead at 5:30 PM. According to Navin, his wife had been conscious and complaining of irritation and shortness of breath just moments before her death. Despite their desperate cries for help, medical assistance arrived too late.

Ranjana’s sudden death led to her grieving relatives reacting with anger, which quickly escalated into a physical altercation with junior doctors and nurses in the female ward of the hospital. Several medical staff members were reportedly assaulted during the incident. In response, the hospital’s junior doctors declared a cease-work protest, demanding increased security measures to protect them from such attacks in the future. The work stoppage continued into the following Monday, disrupting hospital services.

Hospital authorities promptly filed a complaint accusing Ranjana's relatives of assaulting their staff, leading to the arrest of four individuals connected to the altercation. Navin, who delayed lodging his FIR due to his wife’s last rites, filed the report on Sunday, formally accusing the doctors of negligence under Section 106 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). This section specifically deals with cases of death resulting from negligence.

Navin emphasized in his FIR that the delay in providing treatment was the direct cause of his wife’s death. “Due to the doctors’ neglect of duty, my wife died, leaving our three-and-a-half-year-old daughter without her mother,” he wrote in his complaint, urging the authorities to take necessary legal action against the medical staff involved.

Navin explained that his wife was initially admitted to the hospital around 3:14 AM on September 27 after complaining of severe illness. She was discharged within two hours after receiving what Navin described as superficial treatment. However, once back at home, her condition took a turn for the worse, and she was brought back to the hospital at 3:00 PM. Despite receiving three injections and some medications upon her second admission, Ranjana’s condition continued to deteriorate. She later complained of severe irritation throughout her body, followed by shortness of breath, which ultimately led to her untimely death.

As the situation escalated, the hospital’s junior doctors defended their actions, claiming that Ranjana had been brought to the hospital in an already critical state and that they had done everything within their power to save her. They further argued that the violent reaction from the patient’s relatives highlighted the state government’s failure to provide adequate security for medical staff in public healthcare facilities.

In the midst of this unrest, Karuna Nundy, a lawyer representing senior doctors, raised the issue during a Supreme Court hearing on the ongoing RG Kar Hospital case. Nundy pointed to the incident at the College of Medicine and Sagore Dutta Hospital, citing it as an example of the dangers doctors face when dealing with emotional families during medical emergencies. She accused police and non-state security personnel of failing to protect hospital staff from the enraged mob.

The lawyer representing the state government, however, refuted these claims, stating that the patient had been in a critical condition when admitted and that her death could not be blamed solely on the doctors. The state government has promised to investigate the matter thoroughly.

The police have launched a preliminary inquiry based on Navin’s FIR and may question the doctors who were on duty at the time of the incident. Meanwhile, the four individuals arrested for the alleged assault on hospital staff remain in police custody.

(Input from various sources)

(Rehash/Yash Kamble/MSM)