Kolkata: TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee has been booked after a woman complained that she lost a leg following treatment for knee pain at a Sebaashray camp, a healthcare outreach initiative launched by the leader in West Bengal a few months ago, officials said on Sunday.
Intervening in the controversy, state health minister Sharadwat Mukhopadhyay spoke to the complainant and asked her family members to visit Swasthya Bhawan, the health department headquarters in Salt Lake, on Monday for a detailed review of the case, sources said.
Mukhopadhyay, they said, has asked the relatives to bring all relevant documents related to her treatment and the alleged negligence.
The Diamond Harbour MP unveiled the Sebaashray initiative as a healthcare outreach programme when the Trinamool Congress was in power in the state.
At least two FIRs have already been filed against him in connection with alleged irregularities in Sebaashray health camps, police said.
The third FIR was registered after Prabir Biswas, husband of the alleged victim Malati Biswas, from Maheshtala in South 24 Parganas district, complained to the police on July 9 that she lost her leg due to “medical negligence” at one such health camp in her area.
According to the complaint, Biswas, prodded by a former local TMC councillor, had attended the health camp on February 8 with a complaint of chronic knee pain on account of osteoarthritis and was prescribed some medicines, allegedly by a medical examiner who did not reveal his full name or medical registration number on his prescription, which she had followed.
However, her condition deteriorated, forcing her to approach a second Sebaashray ‘model’ camp. The patient alleged that doctors in the second camp demanded a large sum of money for treatment and referred her to a government hospital after she declined to pay.
Biswas was referred to MR Bangur government hospital and subsequently admitted to the state-run Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital on March 19, where she underwent a total knee replacement surgery on April 25.
Following the development of an acute post-operative vascular complication in her right leg, an above-knee amputation had to be performed on May 27, the patient’s husband alleged in the police complaint.
An official at the Rabindranagar police station confirmed that an FIR had been registered against Abhishek Banerjee and some others based on the complaint and further investigation was underway.
Abhijit Das, a BJP leader from Diamond Harbour, who assisted the family in filing the complaint at the Rabindranagar Police Station, said the state government is taking the matter seriously.
“The health minister understood the gravity of the complaint and has asked Malati and her family to visit Swasthya Bhavan with relevant papers. He has spoken to her over the phone and collected information about how she was treated,” Das said.