Government lawyers and members of the legal fraternity in Tripura's Unakoti district on Thursday staged a protest and gheraoed the office of the Chief Medical Officer (CMO), alleging that medical negligence by doctors at Kumarghat Primary Health Centre and Unakoti District Hospital led to the death of advocate Biswajit Debbarma.
The demonstration was led by government pleaders Sandeep Debroy, Sunirmil Deb, Bibhuti Bhushan Das and Anik Bhattacharjee. Senior advocates Chiranjeeb Bhattacharjee, Asim Bhattacharjee, Rebati Mohan Sinha, Debarchan Tarfadar, Supriya Debroy and several other lawyers, including women advocates, also took part in the protest.
According to the lawyers, Debbarma, an advocate of Kailashahar Court, sustained critical injuries in a motorcycle accident at Betcherra in Kumarghat on the evening of July 21. After being rescued by Fire Services personnel, he was taken to Kumarghat Primary Health Centre, where he received initial treatment before being referred to Unakoti District Hospital in Kailashahar.
The lawyers alleged that despite his critical condition, doctors at the district hospital referred him to Silchar Medical College and Hospital in Assam without providing adequate treatment. They claimed that Debbarma died inside the ambulance near Dharmanagar while being shifted to Silchar. Doctors at Dharmanagar later declared him dead.
Following his death, lawyers across Unakoti district launched protests, demanding accountability from the health department. On Thursday, all advocates of the Unakoti District Court assembled and submitted a memorandum to the district's in-charge Chief Medical Officer, Dr Sandipan Bhattacharjee, after gheraoing his office for nearly two hours.
While, speaking with local media persons after the protest, Government Pleader Sandeep Debroy alleged that doctors at Kumarghat Primary Health Centre and Unakoti District Hospital were responsible for Debbarma's death due to "gross medical negligence" and failure to provide timely emergency treatment.
He further claimed that the injured advocate was not immediately shifted to the emergency ward after reaching the district hospital and alleged that doctors were more focused on private practice than attending patients in government hospitals.
Debroy welcomed Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha's recent decision to prohibit private practice by doctors at Agartala Government Medical College and Govind Ballabh Pant Hospital and demanded that a similar ban be extended to doctors serving at Unakoti District Hospital, RGM Hospital in Kailashahar and Kumarghat Hospital.
Making a series of allegations, Debroy also claimed that some government doctors were running or working in private nursing homes while remaining unavailable in government hospitals. He further alleged irregularities in the supply of free medical consumables meant for patients and accused the hospital administration of failing to address the issue.
He warned that if no action is taken against the accused doctors within 45 days, lawyers would launch a statewide agitation across Tripura.
The allegations made by the protesting lawyers could not be independently verified, and there was no immediate response from the Unakoti district health authorities or the doctors concerned.