The depiction of a figure with a stethoscope and a doctor’s coat receiving money at the Mohammad Ali Park Durga Puja pandal has created outrage in the city’s medical fraternity.
The organisers tried to clarify with a placard that the reference was to fake doctors, but the controversy refuses to die down.
The State unit of the Indian Medical Association and the West Bengal Doctors Forum condemned the representation, saying such depiction of doctors would malign their image.
“I have told the organisers that they have to make the placard larger and put up other large signboards to make the matter clear to the public. I also told them that they have to remove the stethoscope from the statue as it is symbolises the medical profession,” Santanu Sen, State secretary of the IMA told The Hindu .
Even as the puja organisers argued that a photo that went viral on social media was taken before the pandal was completed and now a placard “condemning fake doctors” had been hung from the statue, both IMA and WBDF leadership said that the placard was put up only after strong protests.
WBDF vice-president Binayak Chanda said “the placard was not there before we strongly objected to such a derogatory portrayal of doctors as demons. So we are considering the latest step of the puja committee as our moral victory.”
He said the WBDF had not yet ruled out the possibility of taking legal action. The puja organisers said they only wanted to portray the “menace of fake doctors” and never intended to give offence.
