Kolkata, Jan 27 (IANS): Progressive Health Association (PHA), the new Trinamool Congress- affiliated association with representations from the different layers of the medical system chain in West Bengal, was officially floated on Monday with the aim of negative propaganda against the state government in relation to the state’s health sector, said a senior member of the state cabinet who will be heading the new body as its chairpersons.
The proposed joint association will have representatives from junior and senior doctors, nursing staff and health workers.
Announcing the floating of the new body on Monday, the West Bengal minister in charge of Women and Child Development, Social Welfare and Industry and Commerce Departments, Dr Sashi Panja, who will be heading the proposed platform as the chairperson, said that amid recent protests over the ghastly R.G. Kar rape and murder tragedy, there had been attempts to deliberately spread misleading propaganda about the state government in the name of protests.
She said that in the absence of a strong counter- body false propaganda was not countered effectively.
“There were attempts to malign the good work done by the state government in the health sector. Now we want to counter similar situations in future and counter the false propaganda by projecting what the state government has really done for the development of the state’s health sector. That is why the new body has been floated,” said Panja, who is herself a medical practitioner.
Trinamool Congress-affiliated doctors and health workers associations will merge with PHA.
Panja also said that besides countering the negative propaganda against the state government in the health sector, the new association will also try to address the complaints of medical negligence in the state.
The first executive committee meeting of PHA will be on February 8. Since the information about floating the new Trinamool Congress-affiliated association surfaced last week, questions have been raised on the justification of floating this new platform, when a Trinamool Congress-affiliated doctors' body in the name and style of Progressive Doctors’ Association already existed.
Recently, the infighting in Trinamool Congress, especially among the doctors; and lobby within the party became blatant over the R.G Kar tragedy.
Recently, senior party leader and the former Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member, Dr Santanu Sen, who had been extremely vocal within the party on the R.G. Kar tragedy has been suspended from the party and also removed from the chair of the state government representative in the West Bengal Medical Council.
Sen, himself a medical practitioner in personal life, had also been earlier removed from the chair of state spokesman of Trinamool Congress.
Since the R.G. Kar tragedy surfaced Sen had been extremely vocal within the party on this issue, especially against the former and controversial principal of the institute, Sandip Ghosh.
Differences and distance between Sen and the Trinamool Congress leadership started since then. At that point of time, a cold war surfaced between Sen and Trinamool Congress legislator and the president of the council, Sudipto Roy, also a medical practitioner in private life, whose office and nursing home was raided by the ED officials in connection with financial irregularities at R.G. Kar.