Court reprieve for NRI fighting 'medical corruption'

June 26, 2006

By Indo Asian News Service

Kolkata, June 26 (IANS) The Calcutta High Court Monday rejected a

plea by the West Bengal Medical Council (WBMC) against a US-based

Indian-born scientist fighting a case of medical negligence and also

to hold a full hearing of his appeal.

A division bench of the court fixed the hearing of two appeals by

noted Ohio-based AIDS researcher Kunal Saha, fighting a case of

alleged medical negligence leading to his wife Anuradha's death in

1998, for a full hearing Wednesday.

Saha has appealed against the dismissal of his petition by a single-

judge high court bench in which he had complained that the WBMC had

deliberately acquitted the primary accused, Sukumar Mukherjee,

for 'medical negligence' causing the death of his wife.

In a separate but related appeal, Saha has accused that WBMC

president Ashok Chowdhury was 'biased'.

Saha recently suffered a legal setback when his claim seeking Rs.770

million or $17 million - India's biggest medical negligence

compensation claim - from five city-based doctors, including eminent

physician Mukherjee, and the AMRI hospital was dismissed by the

National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) in New Delhi

June 1.

In its judgment, the commission relied on the WBMC findings and

observed that when an experts' body has already found no wrong with

the treatment, a consumer court cannot hold the doctors guilty.

Saha has vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court against the NCDRC

judgment after the apex court reopens on July 3 following the a

vacation.

ng_medical_corruption

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