The 5-year term of the present West Bengal Medical Council (WBMC), headed by Trinomul-Congress MLA Dr. Nirmal Maji, ended in July, 2018 but the same members are still running the medical council without holding any new election till now. Ironically, no doctor or medical group in West Bengal did anything about this long-drawn atrocity until Dr. Kunal Saha, PBT president who is also a registered physician from WBMC although lives in USA, moved a writ petition against the medical council. Calcutta High Court today passed a final judgment in this case (which was also argued “in person” by Dr. Saha) and makes severe criticism of the ongoing functioning by the same members of WBMC by holding that the council has continued to function “unlawfully”. The HC also directs to dissolve the present WBMC members by July 31, 2022 and asked the state government to form an Ad hoc body to run day to day function of WBMC from August 1, 2022. The court has further directed that new election to be completed by October 31, 2022 and WBMC with newly elected members must take charge of the council on November 1, 2022. PBT has long been fighting to remove corruption in the medical councils in states across India because without honest doctors in the medical council, incidence of medical negligence across the country is not going to change.
