A day after the incident of alleged negligence death of a 46-year-old patient at SSKM Hospital on Tuesday, agitating junior doctors demanding justice for demanding justice for the heinous rape and murder of a woman postgraduate trainee (PGT) doctor at R G Kar Hospital, urged state chief secretary Manoj Pant on Wednesday to streamline referral system in connection with patients’ admissions to different government medical colleges and hospitals.

On Tuesday, Sushil Haldar, a resident of Garia, died at SSKM Hospital after he was allegedly denied admissions in three premier state-run teaching hospitals – SSKM Hospital, Medical College Hospital and N R S Medical college Hospital since Monday night. Even the chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s residential office at Kalighat that had directed SSKM Hospital authorities to admit the patient could not save him. The reason: SSKM Hospital could not arrange a bed for the patient, who was bleeding from mouth and nose.

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Today, medics under the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front (WBJDF) sent an email to Mr Pant and urged him to cure the chronic disease of ‘referral system’ of patients’ admissions to government medical colleges and hospitals across the state.

Streamlining of the referral system for admissions of patients is one of the main demands of the WBJDF since its inception after the incident at the R G Medical College Hospital. Besides several other prime issues like justice for the incident, end of threat culture to ensure safety and security of medics, other staff and patients inside government healthcare facilities, formation of task force in every medical college, they have discussing the point of referral system in different meetings with the chief minister and Mr Pant separately since 9 August.

The state health department launched an online central referral system of patients to five teaching hospitals – SSKM, Medical College Hospital (MCH), N R S Medical College, R G Kar Medical College and Calcutta National Medical College in the city on and from 1 November.

Today, the junior medics raised questions in the email sent to Mr Pant saying how did the patient die at SSKM on Tuesday at a time the state health department launched an online central referral monitoring system in the five medical colleges in the city.

On 25 October, the WBJDF had sent an email to Mr Pant giving six-point suggestions to the government on how to improve state-run healthcare services.

The mail was sent to Mr Pant in the midnight when Miss Banerjee along with her bureaucrats and senior police officials had spent the whole night at the secretariat Nabanna monitoring developments in connection with the landfall of the severe cyclone Dana.

The WBJDF in its six-point suggestions has focused on issues mainly immediate implementation of centralised indoor bed monitoring in government hospitals, frequent updates related to availability of beds, critical deficiencies in the centralised referral system of patients seeking admissions to state-government healthcare facilities, staring from primary, secondary and tertiary level hospitals and display boards mentioning availability of beds for public awareness.