West Bengal’s protesting resident doctors announce hunger strike until demands are met

The resident doctors had previously announced that they were calling off their cease-work protest

Resident doctors of West Bengal announced an indefinite hunger strike on Saturday (October 5, 2024) until their demands for justice, workplace safety, and an end to threat culture are met. 

Six resident doctors will begin the indefinite hunger strike, according to protesting resident doctor Arnab Mukherjee.

Also read | ‘Cease work’ by medics affects healthcare services in Bengal’s state-run hospitals

“Until all our demands for safety and justice are met, the six junior doctors will not eat. The other junior doctors across the State will however continue working in full capacity,” Dr. Mukherjee said on Saturday morning. “We hope that when we eat again, people will become more aware of who is responsible for the poor healthcare services they receive.”

Their demands include justice for the victim, the removal of the State Health Secretary, the implementation of safety and security measures and improved patient services in State-run hospitals and medical colleges in West Bengal.

The previous day, resident doctors announced that they were calling off their cease-work protest and resuming duty in emergency, in-patient, and out-patient services, while simultaneously carrying out a sit-in demonstration at Metro Channel in central Kolkata. 

However, they had also set a 24-hour deadline of 8:30 p.m. on Saturday for the Mamata Banerjee government to implement certain safety and anti-threat directives in State-run hospitals and medical colleges, failing which they said they would go on a hunger strike.

Healthcare workers and common people in West Bengal erupted in protest from August 9 onwards, when a female doctor was raped and killed on duty at Kolkata’s R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital (RGKMCH). 

In the last two months, protesting junior doctors observed two cease-work protests and met with the State government twice, following which the Chief Secretary sent a set of safety directives to the Health Secretary. However, on Saturday, junior doctors alleged that very little progress has been made by the government in implementing these directives.

Dr. Mukherjee added that CCTV cameras will be set up around the protest stage so that the general public can see what the protesting doctors are doing at all times. “We will maintain complete transparency with the public, we will install CCTVs so the public can see what we are doing — whether it be observing the hunger strike, or singing protest songs,” he said.

He also mentioned that the doctors who will be carrying on the agitation are ready to face obstacles from the Kolkata Police and administration. 

“Police have been heckling the doctors, as well as the logistics support team and the decorators at Y Channel and Metro Channel since yesterday when we were setting up the protest site. Today they refused entry to vehicles carrying bamboo sticks. We are ready for obstacles being posed to us, but we will stay resolute,” Dr. Mukherjee added, underlining the common people’s consistent support for them.

On Saturday morning, Kolkata Police sent an email to the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front denying them permission for their sit-in protest and hunger strike. 

“It is apprehended that allowing such programme at the proposed place will cause great inconvenience to general public & may lead to a serious law & order problem,” the email from Kolkata Police read.

Amidst resuming duty on Saturday, protesting medicos also carried out a sit-in demonstration surrounding the college council office of RGKMCH. “We gherao-ed the college council office demanding stern action for the 59 people accused of intimidation, threat, and blackmail at RGKMCH,” resident doctor Aniket Mahato said on Saturday.

Dr. Mahato added that ten doctors have been suspended by the RGKMCH following internal investigations on allegations of intimidation, threat, and blackmail.

Meanwhile, ordinary citizens carried out a protest on Saturday evening by forming a human chain from Kolkata’s Thakurpukur to Taratala. 

Published - October 05, 2024 10:00 pm IST