West Bengal Chief Secretary Manoj Pant and Home Secretary Nandini Chakraborty held a meeting with junior doctors who were fasting in protest of the rape and murder of a fellow junior doctor at RG Kar Medical College. In the meantime, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had a conversation with the junior doctors on the phone. She urged the junior doctors to stop their hunger strike. She also mentioned she’d see them on Monday.
Actually, six doctors who were staging a hunger strike to protest the killing of a young doctor have been hospitalized due to their worsening health. At present, eight doctors in the Esplanade region are on a hunger strike, urging the state government to address their demands by October 21st.
A physician warned that a state-wide strike will be initiated if their requests are not fulfilled by October 22. We seek Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to engage in dialogue with us and meet all our requests. Many artists joined the symbolic hunger strike along with the protesting doctors.
The doctors who are causing agitation have organized a large rally on Sunday to address their demands. They will also request for Health Secretary NS Nigam to be ousted. In addition to this, the doctors have requested the state government to implement a centralized referral system in all hospitals and medical colleges, as well as a bed vacancy control system and CCTV in workplaces, on-call duty, washrooms, and to create a task force.
As the Chief Secretary headed towards the location for his hunger strike, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had a conversation with the protesting doctors on the phone. The Chief Minister urged the physicians to stop the hunger strike. She mentioned that everyone is entitled to protest, but it should not impact healthcare services. The Chief Minister stated that the majority of your requests have been addressed, allow three to four months to meet the rest of the demands.
The Chief Medical officer informed the doctors that we do not oppose your requests. You are being asked to engage in discussions with the government. He told you to stop your protest. Decisions on policies must be made in order to satisfy certain needs. We will collaborate to the fullest extent possible, but it is not appropriate for the government to be told what actions to take.