RG Kar Issue: Junior doctors meeting start with Bengal CM Mamata at state secretariat

"We are looking for a positive outcome from the meeting," said Debasish Halder, one of the agitating junior doctors, as they departed for Nabanna, the state secretariat; 17 junior doctors have gone to meet the CM

Kolkata

Protesting junior doctors in West Bengal arrived at the state secretariat on Monday (October 21, 2024) evening to meet Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in an effort to resolve the ongoing impasse following the rape-murder of an on-duty woman medic at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. 17 junior doctors have gone to meet the CM.

The doctors, however, asserted that they would continue their hunger strike demanding justice for the murdered doctor, removal of Health Secretary NS Nigam and enhanced security for healthcare workers, among other issues.

"We are looking for a positive outcome from the meeting," said Debasish Halder, one of the agitating junior doctors, as they departed for Nabanna, the state secretariat, from their protest site at Esplanade, where they had been fasting since October 5.

The meeting, scheduled for 5 pm, follows threats from the protesting doctors to launch a statewide 'cease work' if their demands are not addressed. So far, six doctors on hunger strike had been hospitalised due to deteriorating health, while eight others remained on indefinite fast.

Banerjee spoke with the protesting doctors over the phone on Saturday, urging them to end their fast, asserting that most of their demands had been met. She requested an additional three to four months to address their remaining concerns.

Chief Minister meeting live: Dr Asfakulla Naiya, a protesting doctor of the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front and 3rd year postgraduate trainee of ENT at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, highlights to the Chief Minister that the demands posed by junior doctors include the welfare of patients who seek medical treatment in State-run hospitals

Dr Debasish Halder, a senior resident of anaesthesiology at Medical College, Kolkata, says that of the ten-point demands which were demanded to the government earlier, were a centralised referral system and live bed vacancy monitor. He highlights that a State task force was promised for the fulfilment of infrastructural demands. “You had earlier said that 5-7 junior doctors should be part of the State Task Force, but we had suggested more representatives be present from WBJDF on a rotational basis. However, if a SoP is formed for the State Task Force formation and a monthly meeting of the task force ensured, along with directives for the same, we believe our earlier agreements can be realised more constructively,” he says

“We want RDAs and MBBS student unions to be statutory bodies authorised by the government via a statute by West Bengal University of Health Sciences, and elected representatives from these bodies be elected into the aforementioned committees,” one of the protesting doctors suggest

The junior doctors launched their protests after the recovery of the body of a woman medic from a seminar room at RG Kar Medical Hospital on August 9, an incident that sparked outrage nationwide.

(With inputs from agencies)

Published - October 21, 2024 05:24 pm IST