The junior doctors in West Bengal protesting against the rape and murder of their colleague called off their hunger strike on Monday after a two-hour meeting with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, PTI reported.
The doctors also withdrew their call for a complete shutdown of the health sector in the state that was scheduled for Tuesday. This strike was announced on October 18 in view of their demands for introducing better safety measures in medical institutions.
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.
“In today’s meeting [with Banerjee], we did get the assurance of some directives,” Debasish Halder, a protesting junior doctor, told PTI on Monday. “But the body language of the state government was not positive.”
Halder said that the “common people had wholeheartedly supported” the junior doctors.
“They, as well as the parents of our deceased sister [the 31-year-old trainee doctor], have been requesting us to call off the hunger strike, keeping in mind our deteriorating health,” he added. “We are therefore withdrawing our ‘fast-unto-death’ and also Tuesday’s total shutdown in the health sector.”
The doctors, however, said that their “movement” would continue, The Indian Express reported.
Meeting with West Bengal CM
Earlier in the day, a delegation of 17 junior doctors met Banerjee at the state secretariat and held a discussion on the “threat culture” in West Bengal’s medical centres, justice for the 31-year-old trainee and systemic changes in the health sector, PTI reported.
During the discussion, which was live-streamed, the chief minister urged the medics to end their hunger strike. She also flagged the recent suspension of 47 students at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital by the academic council, The Indian Express reported.
“How can these students or resident doctors be suspended just on the basis of complaints?” PTI quoted Banerjee as saying. “Who gave the college authorities the right to take such a step without informing the state government? Isn’t this a threat culture?”
However, Aniket Mahato, one of the junior doctors, said that the suspended students were “criminals”. He alleged that “they indulged in sexual molestation, extortion, and threats,” according to The Indian Express.
“If needed, the state government can assess their performance and then decide,” Mahato said. “The atmosphere of the medical college campus has been vitiated by these goons under the guise of students. If you recheck their answer sheets, you will see these students don’t deserve to get even pass marks.”
On the medics’ demand for removing of the state health secretary, the chief minister dismissed the accusations of him supporting the “threat culture” at the institution.
At the meeting, the state government assured the medics that the safety of doctors and other staff members would be ensured at medical colleges and hospitals.
Banerjee announced the formation of a state-level 10-member task force with five representatives each from the government and the junior doctors, The Indian Express reported. The task force would also include at least one woman representative from the junior doctors.
Chief Secretary Manoj Pant said that he would issue written directives for the constitution of the task force and grievance committees, along with a timeline to implement the protesting doctors’ demands, by 3 pm on Tuesday, PTI reported.
The protests
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 and Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Abhishek Gupta, along with some government officials, from their posts.
However, the junior doctors had resumed their strike on October 1, demanding that the Trinamool Congress government address their demand for improved safety measures.
On October 5, the junior medics had withdrawn their “cease work” strike and launched an indefinite hunger strike, saying that their safety demands had not been met by the Trinamool Congress government in the state.
Meanwhile, since the beginning of the protests at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital nearly three months ago, patient footfall had decreased by half at the institution and major surgeries were down by 91%, data between July and October showed, according to The Indian Express.
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