The junior doctors in West Bengal protesting against the rape and murder of their colleague resumed their strike on Tuesday, demanding that the state government address their demand for improved safety measures in medical institutions, the Hindustan Times reported.
Their agitation began in response to the rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9.
The doctors said that they had been forced to resume their “cease work” protest indefinitely as the state’s Trinamool Congress government had not taken steps to address their safety concerns.
They reiterated their demands, including improvements to health infrastructure and ending political interference in running hospitals.
For more than 40 days after August 9, the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front led protests demanding the resignation of several senior officials and an end to the “threat culture” in West Bengal’s medical centres.
On September 21, the junior medics partially withdrew their strike and resumed duties in essential and emergency services at government-run hospitals. Their work in outpatient departments, however, remained suspended.
The partial withdrawal of the strike came after several rounds of talks with the state government.
The state government had on September 17 accepted a key demand of the protestors and announced the removal of Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Abhishek Gupta, Director of Medical Education Debashish Halder and Director of Health Services Koustav Nayek from their posts.
On Sunday, the junior doctors threatened to resume their demonstration after a mob allegedly attacked medics at a state-run hospital in the North 24 Parganas district on Friday.
The junior doctors’ association said on Tuesday that despite medics resuming their duties, the state government had made inadequate progress in meeting several of their key demands such as the installation of security cameras, The Hindu reported.
No inquiry committees had been set up against the heads of the “current threat syndicate” in the state’s healthcare system, the Hindustan Times quoted the association as saying.
Also read: Have the Kolkata rape-murder protests dented Mamata’s women support base?
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