The treatment of Partha Chatterjee cannot be done in prison: SSKM

Kolkata 13 August : A group of doctors working at the state-owned SSKM Medical College and Hospital on Saturday insisted against the claims of AIIMS Bhubaneswar that Partha Chatterjee, who is the principal suspect in the multi-crore scam to recruit teachers in West Bengal, does not require hospitalisation to treat of certain of his chronic illnesses.

They conducted an extensive medical examination of Chatterjee and came to the conclusion that the issues of Chatterjee are not treatable behind bars.The medical team presented an account of this matter to the jails superintendent who advised officials in the jail that Chatterjee should be constantly monitored and issued guidelines for this issue.

The medical team specifically expressed concern about the issue of constant swelling of the limbs of Chatterjee.Following a direction of Calcutta High Court issued shortly following his detention by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) last month, Chatterjee was flown to AIIMS Bhubaneswar to undergo a medical check-up.

The doctors there had stated clearly that Chatterjees chronic illnesses were not so serious that he required hospitalisation.But, a divergent report by the medical staff of SSKM in this issue is alleged to have caused a new cycle of disagreement in the issue.

The question now is what was the reason that prompted the state health department to send the SSKM team to Presidency Jail on Saturday? It was reported that the doctor who was attached to the correctional facility, Pranab Ghosh, had sent a report to the jails superintendent, in which he spoke about the various complications of Chatterjee particularly those due to his swollen limbs as well as waist pain.The jail superintendent sent this report to the department of correctional services for the state and then forwarded it to the office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH) of South 24 Parganas district, under the jurisdiction of which the Presidency Central Correctional Home falls.

The CMOH then instructed the SSKM to send a medical team to Chatterjees health check-up in jail.src/ar.