The state government appointed Dr Swapan Soren, joint director of health services as the director of health services (DHS) and Dr Suparna Dutta, director of the Institute of Health and Family Welfare, as officer-on-special-duty (OSD) in medical education on Tuesday, giving in to the demands of the protesting junior doctors.
The agitating junior medics have been demanding removal of Narayan Swaroop Nigam, principal secretary in charge of health department, Prof (Dr) Kaustav Nayak, director of medical education (DME), and DHS Dr Halder because they were allegedly involved in tampering and altering evidences in connection with rape-murder of the 31-year-old woman doctor at R G Kar Medical College.
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On Monday night, chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who also holds the health portfolio, after holding a meeting with a team of delegates of the agitating junior doctors at her Kalighat residence, announced the removal of both Prof (Dr) Nayak and Dr Halder from the posts of DME and DHS respectively.
Miss Banerjee didn’t remove Mr Nigam though his resignation from the post of the principal secretary in health department was one of the five pre-conditions set by the agitators for holding dialogues with her to solve the stalemate. Mr Nigam has been holding the post for about four-and-a-half years, since May in 2024.
A notification issued by Mr Nigam today showed that Prof (Dr) Nayak has been shunted out to the Institute of Health and Family Welfare as its director while Dr Halder has got a new portfolio as OSD in public health at Swasthya Bhawan.
Interestingly, the health department didn’t appoint any DME after the removal of Prof (Dr) Nayak. Dr Dutta will look after the medical education affairs as an OSD till the new DME is appointed.
One agitating junior doctor said that the chief minister has met most of their demands but they could have been happier if Mr Nigam was removed from the post.
“With approval of Mr Nigam, Prof Nayak and Dr Halder Prof (Dr) Sandip Ghosh, former principal of R G Kar Medical College and an accused in the incident, had ordered the PWD unit of the hospital to renovate the chest medicine unit where the body of the woman doctor was recovered mysteriously,” he alleged.
