Kolkata. Junior doctors, who have been protesting since the rape and murder of a female intern doctor at the government R.G. Kar Medical College Hospital last month, have sent a draft of the key points of the talks held with the West Bengal government to Chief Secretary Manoj Pant and are now awaiting his response.
Doctors said that the details of the points on which the two sides discussed and reached a consensus have been given in the email. Along with this, the points on which consensus was not reached have also been sent and based on them, instructions are expected to be issued by the government.
The meeting between junior doctors and state government officials on Wednesday night remained inconclusive. After the murder of a female doctor at RG Kar Hospital on August 9, the junior doctors have been on strike for 40 days over various demands.
The doctors allege that the state government refused to give a written report of the meeting. After the meeting, the doctors announced that they will continue their agitation and ‘work stop’ campaign until the government issues written instructions regarding the safety of doctors in government hospitals as agreed in the meeting.
Dr Aniket Mahato, one of the protesting doctors, said, “The talks went smoothly but the government refused to submit a signed and written statement of the issues discussed. We are feeling disappointed and frustrated by the government’s attitude.” The second round of talks between the protesting junior doctors and West Bengal government officials was held at the state secretariat Nabanna on Wednesday night to resolve the deadlock on the RG Kar Hospital issue. This was the second round of talks between the doctors and the state government in the last 48 hours. The first round of talks was held on Monday at the residence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kalighat. The protesting doctors’ sit-in protest in front of the Health Bhavan, the headquarters of the state health department in Salt Lake, continues for the 10th day.
Amid disagreements in the last round of talks, the state reportedly refused to accept the doctors’ demand to initiate a departmental inquiry against health secretary N S Nigam in the wake of the alleged crime at the RG Kar Hospital. The alleged rape and murder of a trainee doctor and allegations of widespread corruption in government healthcare facilities and mistreatment of students and trainee doctors have led to massive protests in the state capital demanding action against the health secretary.
The protesting doctors said that in the meeting they outlined the issues of their safety inside the state government-run hospital premises and the details of the formation of the task force as promised and its functions. The doctors raised issues related to transparency in the ‘referral system’, allocation of beds to patients, recruitment of health workers and ending the “culture of intimidation” prevalent in the campuses. Issues like representation of students in the decision-making bodies of unions, hostels and hospitals, formation of task force at the college level and holding elections of college council and Resident Doctors Association were also raised in the meeting.
The doctors said that their demands were linked to the concern that the heinous crime that happened at RG Kar Hospital should never happen again. The protesting doctors said that the government agreed that most of our demands are legitimate and should be implemented immediately. But at the end of the talks, there was disappointment when the Chief Secretary refused to give details of the signed proceedings of the meeting.
An unsigned minute of the meeting released by the West Bengal government after the meeting said the junior doctors demanded the formation of an inquiry committee against the principal health secretary for alleged malpractices in the last four-five years, including strengthening the health infrastructure system. The chief secretary emphasised that a comprehensive inquiry into the state’s health system was needed.
The minutes of the meeting revealed that the government requested the doctors to send four-five representatives to the state task force on safety and security, but the doctors proposed wider representation from all medical colleges. According to the minutes of the meeting, “Both sides agreed to implement the central directive regarding deployment of women police officers for night patrolling, installation of panic buttons by departments and setting up of helplines for quick intervention.” Stenographers were also present to record the proceedings of the meeting with the protesting doctors on Monday.
Banerjee has urged the doctors to withdraw their ‘work stop’ agitation which has been going on since the body of an intern doctor was found at RG Kar Hospital on August 9. Accepting the earlier demands of the doctors, Banerjee has removed Kolkata Police chief Vineet Goyal and appointed Manoj Kumar Verma in his place and also removed two senior officials of the health department. Meanwhile, senior Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday urged junior doctors to end their agitation and return to work.
Banerjee posted on ‘X’, “As a gesture of goodwill, doctors should consider withdrawing the strike, work with the Government of West Bengal to meet the needs of the people and cooperate in expediting the implementation of the task force initiatives to ensure that the said changes are implemented immediately.”