By IANS,
Kolkata:Terming the West Bengal Medical Council (WBMC) as “corrupt” and “rotten”, an NGO fighting against medical negligence Monday urged Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to disband the council and investigate its members for corruption.
“The WBMC is riddled with corrupt doctor members who do not care for victims of medical negligence and try to shield their errant colleagues. The tenure of the present medical council expired long ago but they continue to run it,” said Kunal Saha, president of People for Better Treatment (PBT).
“In view of the abysmal status of healthcare in the state, we demand that the chief minister disband the corrupt WBMC and investigate its members for corruption,” he added.
Saha alleged that the council deliberately kept the disposal of complaints undecided for years only to protect the guilty doctors. The time limit for disposal of such complaints, as per its code of ethics, is six months.
Asking for a change in the constitution of the council, Saha said: “As per law, half of the members of the council are to be nominated than elected. It paves the way for unwanted political influences in the council. Not only this erroneous law should be changed but also non-doctors should be made its members.”
Saha has sent a letter to Banerjee with his demands.
“People have started to lose faith in doctors. Because of a few, the whole fraternity is getting a bad name. Hope she (Banerjee) does something. I want to meet her and hope she meets me. There is no reason why she wouldn’t,” he said.
Saha also said there was a need for regulating the expenses charged by private medical centres.