Ahead of meeting with West Bengal CM, people rally in support of junior doctors

Doctors said they would join the meeting on Monday while continuing with their hunger strike

A day before the proposed meeting between the West Bengal Chief Minister and protesting junior doctors, thousands of people hit the streets in Kolkata on Sunday (October 24, 2024) in support of the protesting doctors.

Representatives of different civil society organisations and citizens from all walks of life joined the doctors at the Esplanade here. The protesting junior doctors have been on a fast unto death at the venue since October 5. Well- known faces of the Bengali film and television industry joined the doctors in a day-long agitation near the protest site, whereas artists expressed their support for doctors through street plays and songs at a protest gathering near the Academy of Fine Arts not far from the protest venue.

The doctors have refused to lift their hunger strike but said that they would join the meeting on Monday, while continuing their strike. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had on Saturday reached out to the protesting doctors over telephone and urged them to call off their strike.

On Sunday, representatives of the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front replied to the email sent by Chief Secretary Manoj Pant, urging the doctors to come for talks on Monday.

In the email, the doctors alleged that the CM appeared to be “uninformed about our demands and their clear formulations”.

“It is a welcome step from your side to accept our suggestion for a physical meeting for discussion as we feel that this impasse can only be resolved by a strong sense of goodwill. We will attend the meeting tomorrow within the specified time,” the email by the doctors said.

During the day, the doctors held a general body meeting to discuss what points they would raise in the meeting with the Chief Minister. Speaking to media persons, Debasish Halder, a representative of the protesting doctors, said that the demand for the removal of Health Secretary N.S. Nigam was based on reason and not on “any adamant attitude” of the doctors.

“We have sufficient direct and indirect evidence that point toward the same and reasons to believe that the Abhaya incident is a possible culmination of such corruption. Therefore, the Health Ministry must take responsibility and PHS (Principal Health Secretary) should be immediately removed from his position,” the email from the doctors said.

The West Bengal Junior Doctors Front is also demanding a centralised referral system and a real-time bed vacancy monitor, which would be “instrumental in mitigating the extreme harassment faced by the patients and relatives on a daily basis while being referred rampantly from one hospital to another”. The State government has said that it had started a pilot project on the central referral system.

Before the highly anticipated meeting on Monday, the Chief Minister had held a meeting with junior doctors at her residence on September 17, and announced the decision to transfer several officials, including the then Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Kumar Goyal. The doctors had also held discussions with the Chief Secretary on a number of occasions, but the doctors demanding justice for the rape and murder of a doctor at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital have accused the government of not accepting their demands.

Published - October 20, 2024 09:16 pm IST