Now, the face of the RG tax movement has resigned from the medical facility

Kolkata, Oct 17 (IANS) Tapas Pramanik, the emergency medical officer at the government-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, who became the face of the movement against the RG Kar rape and murder case, has tendered his resignation from the health services.

Pramanik is the second person associated with the RG tax movement to resign from the service during the current week.

Earlier this week, former Deputy Superintendent of RG Kar Akhtar Ali, often cited as the whistleblower in the case of financial irregularities in the state’s prestigious medical institute, resigned from his services.

As claimed by Ali, whose last posting was as Deputy Superintendent of Kaliaganj State General Hospital in Malda district of West Bengal, he had resigned after being subjected to sustained administrative retaliation ever since he became vocal on financial irregularities not only in the RG tax but also in the general health system in the state.

In his resignation letter dated October 15, a copy of which is available with IANS, Pramanik claimed that the decision to resign from his services was due to “continued administrative failure and intolerable working conditions”.

He claimed that his repeated appeals to involve specialist doctors from the Medicine and Chest Department in the emergency wing of the hospital, especially at night, have been ignored by the RG Kar authorities, and hence he had to depend mainly on the assistance of house staff and interns for managing the cases in that vital wing.

Pramanik’s resignation letter reads, “It has now become impossible to handle the situation, which has persisted for more than a year. The continued failure of the administration and excessive workload has taken a serious toll on my health and well-being.”

Earlier this week, after tendering his resignation, Akhtar Ali also told media persons about his “helpless” situation which prompted him to resign from the services.

“I have reached the limit of my fight against the corrupt system. Hence, I have decided to resign from my services. However, I will continue my fight against the corrupt healthcare system in the state,” he said.

Recall that on the basis of his petition, the Calcutta High Court had last year directed a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation into the RG tax financial irregularities worth crores of rupees. CBI sleuths arrested RG Kar’s former and controversial principal Sandeep Ghosh and others in connection with financial irregularities, all of whom are in judicial custody.

–IANS

source/svn