Kolkata: There was a sigh of relief for faculty members at Prafulla Chandra Sen Govt Medical College, Arambagh, with the hospital on Thursday receiving an exemption notice from poll duty.The hospital, however, is yet to get confirmation regarding the exemption of about 30 technical staff members, including lab technicians, medical technologists, and OT technicians, who also fall under emergency services.“We have received official confirmation of the exemption of all doctors from poll duty. We have also applied for the exemption of another 30-odd technical staff members who also come under emergency services. We have been assured of action and expect to get official confirmation on their exemption soon,” said principal Ramaprasad Roy.Officials said these 30 staff members are also involved in patient care services, as they are posted in units such as the hospital lab or in OTs.“It is quite a relief that such an unprecedented order of deploying doctors for poll duties has been rolled back. We can now concentrate on patient care and academic activities,” said a senior faculty member.The move caused a stir not only among the doctors at the hospital but also within the larger medical community. The relatively new medical college currently has 111 faculty members, supported by medical officers, demonstrators, and senior and junior resident doctors, to cater to a large number of patients. Forty-eight faculty members were on the requisition list designated by the EC as presiding officers. Doctors said if all had been required to attend poll duties, hospital services would have been crippled.In fact, all medical colleges and hospitals across the state have received notices to send between 5 and 25 non-medical staff members for training before they are deployed for poll duty.
