News Brief
Bengal Police Accused Of Illegally Detaining Oncologist Who Posted Images Of Substandard PPEs Given To Doctors
- The oncologist, who is also the vice-president of the Bengal unit of the ABVP, was reportedly picked up by Maheshtala police.
Representative image of police (Pic via Twitter)
An oncologist who wrote about substandard PPEs (as was also reported in Swarajya) was detained overnight by the Bengal police.
Dr Indranil Khan had posted photos of substandard personal protective equipment (PPEs) supplied by the state government to doctors and paramedical staff posted at government healthcare facilities.
The oncologist, who is also the vice-president of the Bengal unit of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), was reportedly picked up by Maheshtala police at 9.30 pm on Sunday and held overnight before being released at 2 pm on Monday.
According to BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya (read his tweets), Dr Khan was “illegally detained” and no FIR was formally lodged against him. Malviya also alleged in his tweet: “His mobile seized, but no record of it either. His critically ill cancer patients are being hounded. Police officials admit this being done at the behest of 'higher ups'”.
Tellingly, a few hours after his reported detention by the police (at 7.05 pm on Sunday), Dr Khan tweeted: “Government of West Bengal addressing the concern over inferior quality PPE with due sincerity and taking necessary steps to resolve the issue” (see this screenshot of the tweet). He tagged chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s official twitter account (@MamataOfficial).
Soon after, he received an acknowledgement from the state department of health and family welfare, which replied to his tweet: “Dear Doctor Khan, thank you for highlighting this matter. We are taking immediate steps to not only reject any defective or substandard piece (that does not conform to the Health Department’s approved sample), but also supply the PPE of micro fibre variety subject to availability”.
According to Malviya, Dr Khan was let off on Monday afternoon “after he posted a tweet effusively praising the West Bengal government” (see this).
Khan tweeted his praise at 10.50 am on Monday: “The Govt of WB is working hard to ensure safety of frontline healthcare workers & it is very important that all of us cooperate with the govt in greater interest of public health. I apologise in case my previous post has unintentionally created misconceptions among followers”.
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