Samikhsya Bureau
After a long stand-off, there seemed to be a glimmer of hope as the striking junior doctors on Sunday put the ball in West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s court, expressing their readiness to meet Banerjee at any venue she decided.
After the five-hour-long general body meeting on Sunday, the junior doctors said they want to meet the chief minister under camera supervision, thereby ruling out any closed-door meeting. They informed,”We have agreed to meet Ms Banerjee anywhere, but Nabanna or Raj Bhawan, under camera supervision.”
Earlier, the meeting of junior doctors started at the academic hall of the Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital (NRSMCH). Representatives from various hospitals, including NRS, were present in the meeting. However, no decision has been taken yet on the next action plan.
The healthcare facilities in West Bengal government hospitals virtually remained crippled for the sixth day as the indefinite cease work resorted to by junior doctors protesting alleged assault on the medics at the NRS Hospital and a standoff persisted between chief minister Mamata Banerjee and strikers over the meeting venue.
The agitating doctors on Saturday had rejected Banerjee’s offer for a meeting at Nabanna insisting the chief minister should come to NRS where the alleged crime happened and cease work agitation began from Tuesday morning. Chief minister Banerjee had appealed to the striking medics to call off the agitation as the government had conceded all the demands, including safety and security to medicos in all the government hospitals.
Meanwhile, at a time when West Bengal is on the brink of a medical crisis as doctors in the state continue to protest, the kin of the patient whose death triggered the initial violence at NRS Medical College and Hospital said whoever is found guilty should be punished.
The family of Mohammad Sayeed (75), who died at NRSMCH, also claimed that it was not only their neighbours who were guilty but also some doctors who allegedly assaulted them.
A report from Midnapore said the parents of a 3-day-old baby who died during the ongoing strike have staged a protest with the baby’s body before the agitating doctors.
Indian Medical Association (IMA) will hold a 24-hour-long nationwide protest on Monday. Many doctors however have questioned the “selective intervention” of the IMA. They said the IMA had not raised its voice its concerns when BJP MP Ananth Kumar Hegde had thrashed three doctors in full public view in a Bengaluru hospital not long ago. The IMA had not also intervened in the matter of Dr. Kafeel Khan, who was arrested and put in jail by the Uttar Pradesh government when children died in a Gorakhpur hospital, though it was Khan who reportedly saved many lives due to his proactive action.
The agitating Kolkata doctors have received support from doctors across the country. However, many in medical fraternity believe that the “solidarity” of doctors across the nation towards the agitating colleagues in Kolkata has become more political.
(With agency inputs)
