Aparna Bhattacharya | 02 September 2024 | The Wire

Dr Chandramouli Jha should have graduated from R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata in 2022. But he only got his internship completion certificate in 2023 – after the Calcutta high court ordered the hospital to release it to him. An internship completion certificate is essential for obtaining a medical registration number, which in turn is a prerequisite for applying for housestaffship and practicing medicine. Jha says that his and a few others’ certificates were ‘withheld’ by the R.G. Kar authorities because they had participated in protests demanding smoother functioning of the college in 2021 – a participation that allegedly resulted in them receiving threats, low grades and coercion.

R.G. Kar is the same medical college where the rape and murder of a trainee doctor while she was on duty, on August 9, sent shockwaves across the nation, fuelling ongoing protests in West Bengal for the past three weeks. Now, multiple former students that The Wire spoke to have highlighted institutional mismanagement there – pointing to systemic bullying at one of Kolkata’s most prominent hospitals. Graduate doctors spoke of threats and an atmosphere of fear not just at the hospital but across medical education spheres in Bengal, and alleged the presence of a ‘North Bengal lobby’ close to the ruling Trinamool Congress party…

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