Thursday, March 14, 2019

PBT PRESIDENT AS “ROLE MODEL” IN BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL (BMJ) FOR HIS ENDLESS BATTLE AGAINST MEDICAL CORRUPTION

British Medical Journal (BMJ), one of the premier international medical journals in the world, just published an article holding PBT president, Dr. Kunal Saha, as “Role Model” for his long-drawn selfless fight against medical negligence and pervasive healthcare corruption in India (see article below). As BMJ has reported, the relentless battle against medical corruption in India by Dr. Saha started with the tragic death of his young wife (Anuradha Saha) from gross medical negligence by several senior doctors during a social visit to India in 1998. Although Supreme Court of India eventually held these doctors and AMRI Hospital in Kolkata guilty for causing Anuradha’s death and awarded highest-ever compensation (Rs. 11.5 crore) in 2013, Dr. Saha has continued his fight to cleanse the rot in Indian medicine and helping the hapless victims of medical negligence in India through the charitable organization, People for Better Treatment (PBT), that he established in 2001.
Although permanently settled in USA for the past almost 30 years, Dr. Saha frequently visits India (at least twice each year) and appears to argue in courts on behalf of the victims of medical negligence and also public interest litigations (PILs) against medical corruption. One of the major aspects in these legal fights has been Dr. Saha’s relentless attempts to bring Dr. Ketan Desai, ex-MCI president and biggest medical mafia in Indian medical history, to justice. Dr. Desai was caught red-handed by the CBI in 2010 for taking bribe from a private medical college but recently, all criminal cases against Desai were dropped by the CBI on a flimsy technical ground. PBT and Dr. Saha are in the process to move the court to bring justice to Dr. Desai and the arbitrary action by the CBI.

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