AGARTALA, July 24 (TIWN): The High Court of Tripura on Thursday dismissed a plea of Dr. Pratap Sanyal, a veteran doctor serving under the Department of Health and Family Welfare in the state, against a lower court verdict and asked Judicial Magistrate (first class) of Agartala to proceed with criminal negligence charges against the doctor. The Court raised serious questions on the credibility of a medical enquiry committee which was set up by the state government, shortly after a housewife was found to have got a corrugated drain-pipe within her abdomen after Dr. Sanyal operated on her.

The medico was later accused of inserting a corrugated drain-pipe inside the patient’s abdomen in January, 2006 and stitching the incision without removing the alien substance.

Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court Deepak Gupta today raised question on the observation of the medical inquiry committee that appeared to be biased in favour of accused Dr. Pratap Sanyal. The patient’s relatives got into touch with Dr. Sanyal shortly after she was discharged from nursing home where she underwent the surgery.

The patient felt severe pain in the abdomen, her husband and leading Photojournalist Bapi Roychoudhury said. The patient Shrabani Deb, librarian of a govt degree college went of CT scan in Agartala Govt Medical College as advised by her Physician and detected an eight inch long corrugated rubber drain pipe inside but when she reported to Dr Sanyal, he disbelieved it.

A Kolkata-based hospital operated on Shrabani later in October 2007 and removed the drain-pipe from the patient’s right lower abdominal wall, part of which extended intra-abdominally, which was inserted during the gall bladder operation at Agartala. The accused Dr. Sanyal refused to accept the findings of report and allegedly misbehaved with the patient and his family. A complaint was later lodged by the patient with charges of "insincerity" on the doctor’s part during a laparoscopic surgery in a private nursing home.

During trail in the lower court, the accused doctor insisted for an inquiry committee when the police chargesheet accused him for medical negligence. The court accordingly allowed a committee and the same was prompt in giving him a clean-chit. Dr. Pratap Sanyal filed a petition to the High Court in 2011 after the lower court gave its verdict over the issue.