Dog dialysis attempted at govt hospital in Kolkata sends ministers in a tizzy

A dog is a man’s best friend was taken quite literally at a West Bengal hospital where a VVIP allegedly sought out a dialysis treatment for his dog at the government-run SSKM Hospital. Union minister and BJP leader Sanjeev Balyan on Monday demanded a probe into allegations of arrangements being made for a dog to undergo dialysis at West Bengal’s government-run SSKM Hospital. Pradip Mitra, who was recently transferred from the post of SSKM director, claimed he was handed over marching orders for stopping the dialysis of a dog at the premier hospital on 10 June. [caption id=“attachment_2116313” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  AFP[/caption] The dog was allegedly sent for treatment by Trinamool Congress leader Nirmal Majhi, who heads the state medical council. Terming his transfer to the College of Medicine and Sagore Dutta Hospital as an “insult”, Mitra applied for voluntary retirement and also threatened to move court. “If an order for a dog’s dialysis was really made, then it is very unfortunate. The matter must be probed and strict action taken against those found guilty,” said Balyan, the union minister of state for agriculture. During the day, BJP leader Locket Chatterjee also submitted a memorandum to new SSKM director Manju Banerjee seeking details about the incident. She later on Tuesday applied for an RTI seeking details. “People have the right to know the truth. Who ordered the arrangements for the dog’s dialysis and at whose insistence? The hospital must come clean on this. An independent probe into the matter is imperative,” Chatterjee, who is also a famed Bengali actress, told media persons. In her petition to the public information officer in the directorate of health, Locket has sought answers to five questions,  according to the Calcutta Telegraph: What type of pet it was? Who brought the pet to the hospital? Who made the ticket for treatment? Under whose control the treatment was started? What type of medicine was given to the pet? Trinamool legislator Majhi has repeatedly denied the allegations and accused the media of defaming him. (With IANS inputs)