NRI doctor seek compensation from Indian hospital

A Kolkata hospital has been moved against in Supreme Court seeking contempt of court proceedings by a US-based Indian origin medical practitioner for ignoring the court's order to pay a penalty of Rs. 500,000 for causing his wife's death due to medical negligence.

Kunal Saha of HIV/AIDS Research Centre, Columbus, Ohio, has moved the court, pointing out that Kolkata's Advanced Medicare Research Institute (AMRI) and its managing director Mani K. Chettri have been ignoring the court's order for the last seven months.

On Aug 9 last year the apex court indicted prestigious AMRI and four eminent Kolkata doctors for causing the death of his wife Anuradha, a child psychologist, in 1998. She died while undergoing treatment for a common ailment at the hospital in the care of the four doctors -- Sukumar Mukherjee, Abani Roychowdhury, Baidyanath Halder and Balaram Prasad, according to Saha's lawsuit.

The court, after indicting the hospital and the four doctors, referred the matter back to the National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission (NCDRC), which was looking into the case, to decide the quantum of compensation that the hospital and the doctors should pay to the expatriate doctor.

The doctor approached the Supreme Court earlier, demanding a record compensation of Rs. 77.78 crore (Rs. 777. 8 million). He challenged the NCDRC's judgement, which had acquitted the doctors of all charges of medical negligence and malpractice. (With Input from Agencies)