Joydeep Sarkar 
Kolkata: Days after he publicly criticised an alleged medicine adulteration scam in West Bengal’s state-run hospitals, police raided the home of junior doctor Dr. Asfakulla Naiya. Naiya was a prominent figure in the protests which took place in the aftermath of the trainee doctor’s rape and murder at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital.
A team of over 30 Bidhannagar police officers conducted a search of Naiya’s residence in the Kakdwip block of the South 24 Parganas district. Naiya told The Wire that the search took place in his absence and that he was staying at his designated hostel at R.G. Kar Medical College in Kolkata at the time of the search.
Speaking to The Wire, Naiya said, “I don’t know why they searched my house or what the charges are. I woke up in the morning to this news. My family informed me that a large police force with cameras entered my house and conducted a search. My elderly mother and siblings at home were shocked. If I have done anything illegal, the police should call me.”
Prior to the search, Naiya had spoken to The Wire on January 13, alleging significant corruption within the healthcare system in Bengal.
On January 15, he was slapped with a show-cause notice following a complaint alleging that he practised as an “ENT specialist” at a private medical service provider’s clinic in the state despite lacking the necessary qualifications for that specialisation.
Naiya is convinced that the search is meant to coerce him into silence. “As the day of the trial for the murder of the doctor at R.G. Kar is approaching, we doctors are preparing for that legal battle and at the same time fulfilling our duty of providing medical services too. At this time, it is plain to see that the administration has taken such a step to deliberately flummox us,” he said.
“If the police secretly leave something in my house in my absence, who will be responsible for it? This is a deep conspiracy!”
The deputy commissioner of the Bidhan Nagar Police Station, Anis Sarkar, told The Wire that the search was conducted legally.
“After receiving a complaint, we obtained permission from the Bidhan Nagar court. With a search warrant from the court, we conducted a search at the junior doctor’s residence today,” said Sarkar.
The complaint against Naiya was first brought up publicly last month by a spokesperson of the ruling Trinamool Congress party, Kunal Ghosh and the Junior Doctors’ Association (JDA), a doctors’ body with close ties to TMC. During the several month-long agitation for justice and systemic changes after the R.G. Kar murder, several doctors had been vocal in alleging corruption and a threat culture perpetrated by some JDA office-bearers.
Naiya had been a prominent face of the Junior Doctors’ Forum which led the protests, which culminated after a meeting between the doctors and chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
The forum had notably opposed the reinstatement of doctors Avik De and Birupaksha Biswas to the West Bengal Medical Council. The duo had been removed in September last year for allegedly promoting a culture of intimidation and corruption in medical colleges. Both were affiliated to the TMC.
Several doctors’ bodies have spoken in support of Naiya.
In a strongly worded statement, the Joint Platform of Doctors’ Organisations had said, “The Medical Council can never send police to a doctor’s house. If a doctor does anything illegal, they can ask for an explanation by letter. Here, the police have been sent to the house of a protesting doctor as an act of political vendetta. If the government does not stop such actions, doctors and health workers will have to take to the streets again.”
The Association of Health Service Doctors has also strongly condemned the TMC government’s vindictive politics.
This is not the first time that the government has executed such action.
During the R.G. Kar movement, Alok Kumar Verma, a doctor from Uttar Pradesh working at North Bengal Medical College in Siliguri, participated in the protests and went on a hunger strike in solidarity with the junior doctors in Kolkata. Following instructions from the West Bengal Police, the Uttar Pradesh Police had visited his home in Lucknow and conducted a search. His family was reportedly pressured to convince him to withdraw from the movement.
Similar incidents occurred with other doctors, including a woman from Bankura, whose home was also searched by the police, allegedly to intimidate her family.
Also read: What the Deaths of Women Due to the Use of Expired Saline Says About Bengal’s Healthcare
Medinipur Medical College death controversy
Meanwhile, the Bengal government on January 16 suspended 12 doctors from Midnapore Medical College and Hospital following the death of a woman and the illness of four others after childbirth, allegedly due to the administration of expired intravenous fluid. Chief minister Banerjee condemned the incident and announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh and a government job for the deceased woman’s family.
It was alleged that the maternal death and subsequent illnesses were linked to Ringer’s Lactate saline supplied by Paschim Banga Pharmaceuticals, a company previously blacklisted by the Karnataka government. Since then, the state government has issued a directive stopping use of medicines supplied by the company in state-run hospitals. However, the health secretary maintained that the saline batch sent to MMCH had undergone proper testing.
Translated from the Bengali original and with inputs from Aparna Bhattacharya.