The Plot

What happened yesterday aired on the media for about 3 hours, till the truth kind of came out. What’s the truth and more importantly, whose fault is it? Answer: It’s nobody’s. The patient had died suddenly while waiting in line at the Chest OPD and we very much feel bad that our treatment failed to save him. I cannot even begin to imagine how hard it must be for his close relatives. But if grief takes the form of random attacks on people who tried to save this patient, then it isn’t grief…. It’s pure hooliganism. Especially those hooligans who attacked us, blamed us for medical negligence….whereas we never let any patient leave or be referred to OPD until he/she is made stable, which is what we did in this case.

They came and attacked me and Promita, tried to choke Rajib by the neck. When I was snatching away the video camera from one of the assaulter’s hands, they again pushed and shoved us. Rajib closed the gates, driving out all the patient party and barring any more to enter. The situation had become extremely volatile. While giving CPR to the dead patient, I asked the wife who those hooligans were. They said “parar lok”….and maybe one of them was her brother. She and another REAL patient party were civilized till then, while we tried to resuscitate the patient, counselled them that it was nobody’s fault, and she herself admitted the patient was stable when they took him to the OPD. Until that point, none of the interns had misbehaved in any way.

After some time, Suman came (after attending patients in the MINOR OT when he didn’t even have ER duty), and took me and Promita inside, telling us to stop treating patients. The hooligans were still creating mishap outside the ER. Inside the Intern on-call room I saw Rajib flat laid out on the bed clutching his chest. He had a severe chest pain from all the excitement, which was only reduced by administering sublingual GTN (Thanks for that Mousumee). Subhadeep and Suman did the right thing after that, bringing in those hooligans into the ER and making them stay until the police detained them. Our PGT seniors came and advised us that before the situation got any worse, our batchmates should be called on spot. All of them defended us in front of the patient party. It was the first time I realised that this unity was never achieved in my whole college life before. Dark times brought out the best in us!

The wife lost her temper and started to harass our PGTs and we stepped up, until she was taken away outside. No doubt she created a massive scene out there.

Calling our batchmates in numbers was the right call to make, because no sooner than an hour later, a mob consisting of both men and women surrounded the ER entrance, calling out names and the most dirty abuses no one even heard before (especially from that 14 year old girl). Another man in blue shirt* was enraging them on to hit us.

Promita and I wrote down these official police complaints, identified the guilty on CCTV camera, and at the time there was another woman creating a big issue, threatening to hit us with shoes because a little blood had dropped from her injection site and it was apparently a fatal emergency. When many of us were on their way to the MSVP office for the official complaint, they were hit with stones, bottles, shoes and whatnot. The violent ruthless and obviously mindless mob, instigated by simple brainwashing by some sadistic people(including the blue shirt guy* and a reporter who said”Now hit them with bricks” while shooting that video) mainly consisted of women (an excellent tactic because they wouldn’t be hit back). Outside the Super office, they continued to harass us, chasing random doctors and instigating us for a hand-to-hand. Thankfully, we didn’t stoop down to their level.

At MSVP office, MSVP Dr. Shikha Banerjee Ma’am at the press conference:

Bowbazar Police force came and tried to disperse the mob as best as they could. 12 of us were taken to the station for identification of those ruffians and lodging of FIR. The police were trying to put it through the slow procedure of turning a written complaint into a GD into an FIR. Co-interns who came with us to the station urged for more urgent action and justice, and that brought fruition. After almost 2 hours, FIR complaint was lodged and those ruffians were arrested under IPC sections 122, 123, 353, 354 and 114.

Elaboration of the IPC sections

[ 122. Collecting arms, etc., with intention of waging war against the Government of India.—Whoever collects men, arms or ammuni­tion or otherwise prepares to wage war with the intention of either waging or being prepared to wage war against the ⁹⁰ [Govern­ment of India], shall be punished with ⁹¹ [imprisonment for life] or imprisonment of either description for a term not exceeding ten years, ⁹² [and shall also be liable to fine.

123. Concealing with intent to facilitate design to wage war.—Whoever by any act, or by any illegal omission, conceals the existence of a design to wage war against the [Government of India], intending by such concealment to facilitate, or knowing it to be likely that such concealment will facilitate, the waging of such war, shall be punished with imprisonment of either de­scription for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.

353. Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty.—Whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any person being a public servant in the execution of his duty as such public servant, or with intent to prevent or deter that person from discharging his duty as such public servant, or in consequence of anything done or attempted to be done by such person in the lawful discharge of his duty as such public serv­ant, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

354. Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty.—Whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any woman, intending to outrage or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby outrage her modesty, shall be punished with impris­onment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

114. Abettor present when offence is committed.—Whenever any person, who is absent would be liable to be punished as an abettor, is present when the act or offence for which he would be punishable in consequence of the abetment is committed, he shall be deemed to have committed such act or offence.]

Sections 353 and 354 are non-bailable cognizant offenses. That’s why they weren’t released on the day.]

For security purposes, I have not posted the photocopy of the FIR on the blog.

The End of the Plot

I thank Bowbazar Police for the support and protection thereafter, making sure we got in and out of the PS securely. I should also say that the instigator of the mob* was present too at the PS, hoping that we were arrested instead based on his complaints, but those misplaced notions were in vain. On returning I saw that patients were being treated from the grill, while the rest of co-interns kept the gates closed. Never before in times of crises like this has the emergency room been closed down for 5 hours straight. It was the right gesture, because the people who visit our emergency only for verbally abusing and pushing us, deserve treatment everywhere…except in Medical College, Kolkata. We have long stopped demanding respect…just asking for a little bit of humanity here. We are humans too. How can people expect us to get assaulted violently AND simultaneously continue treating patients? But even if we try, we cannot leave sick people to suffer at the hands of fate. When they come to us seeking for help, we are duty-bound to help them with whatever resources we have. I still stand by this holy oath.

The Epilogue Part 1

Oh, and here comes the morning news today 22.02.2018…let me point out the mistakes after you have read it. Following is an excerpt from The Telegraph, Kolkata, page 13.

First mistake: This happened on Tuesday???!!! Media couldn’t even get the day right!

2nd mistake: Died before doing Xray!!! The nerve of the media! Patient party had the X-Ray from the wee hours of 9.30 AM.

3rd mistake: Instead of saying Demanded Explanation….they should’ve written INSTANT ATTACK!

4th mistake: Why Apparently assaulted? They WERE ASSAULTED, no question! Video proof previously given.

5th mistake: No women were spared…it’s the main reason why they couldn’t escape arrest.

The Epilogue Part 2

Today on ABP Ananda’s website:

 

The Epilogue Part 3

Rajib did an ECG today in the medicine on-call room and it was revealed to be Sinus Tachycardia.

 

The Epilogue Part 4

The three who were arrested were brought today by the police at ER. I wasn’t physically present there then so I don’t know what happened after.

 

 

Finale

On this note, I should mention that our morale is very down. The people who hate us….we are not murderers. Stop smoking cigarettes for 20 years like the dead patient did. Stop practising harmful habits that will undoubtedly get you killed in the near future. The survival of the patient depends on five factors:

• At what phase of the disease the patient was brought in?
• Is the disease related to any harmful habit of the patient?
• The correct diagnosis of the disease.
• The co-operation of the patient party.
• Administration of the correct treatment.

When a patient dies, people tend to focus on the possibility that patient died due to negligence of the last factor. They don’t have the knowledge that the rest 4 factors also play crucial roles, and I don’t blame them. After all, we are the doctors, not them. But before blaming us point-blank, let us explain. If you think there is medical negligence, complain to the proper authorities. Don’t take law into your own hands, or there will be dire consequences to face. This is our advice and our warning. We are not Gods, we are human beings who fight fate everyday to push the patient away from the hands of Death.

Lastly, thank you everyone who were there beside us. I am very very grateful to you all.

This is me signing off…