The junior doctors in West Bengal protesting against the rape and murder of their colleague ended their “cease work” strike and launched an indefinite hunger strike on Saturday evening, claiming that their safety demands had not been met, India Today 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.
Six doctors from several medical institutions in the city were selected by the junior doctors’ association to participate in the hunger strike.
On Friday, the medics held a sit-in demonstration at Dorina Crossing in Kolkata, giving the West Bengal government a 24-hour deadline to meet their demands. When the demands were not met, the protesting doctors started a fast unto death on Saturday.
“The state government has failed the deadline and hence we are starting the fast unto death, which will continue till our demands are fulfilled,” PTI quoted an unidentified junior doctor as saying. “To maintain transparency, we have installed CCTV cameras at the dais where our colleagues are holding the fast.”
The junior doctors had resumed their strike on Tuesday, demanding that the Trinamool Congress government address their demand for improved safety measures in medical institutions.
The doctors alleged that they were lathi-charged by the police on Friday night. The Kolkata Police have assured the protestors that action will be taken against those responsible for the incident and asked the doctors to identify the officers allegedly involved, India Today reported.
Earlier, the police had denied the doctors’ request for a sit-in protest citing heavy vehicular traffic in the area.
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.
They also seek increased police protection in hospitals and the hiring of permanent female police personnel, among other requests.
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.
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