The doctors said they will not join OPD services or attend elected operations. These would be resumed once they are assured of the state government’s commitment to the safety issue, they said.
The junior doctors of Bengal on Friday called off their massive protest over the rape-murder of a colleague at a Kolkata hospital and said that they will join work from Saturday. But there was a condition – they say they will not join OPD services or attend elected operations. These would be resumed only once they were assured of the state government’s commitment to the safety issue, they said.
The announcement came after the state had accepted most of their demands — and amid massive floods in south Bengal where health services have become a priority. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been visiting the affected areas since yesterday. It was the Chief Secretary who had the last meeting with the doctors on Wednesday and accepted their demands and suggestions over security.
He instructed the availability of facilities, police deployment, women officers, mobile teams, helpline, and alarms in today’s letter to the Principal Secretary.
There will also be an audit of the security at all state-run medical institutions.
This partial return to work was enough for the junior doctors’ representatives, who declared in an open statement that such a partial return to work is definitely not the end of their agitation. “If needed, we will begin ceasework again,” said a representative of the junior doctors. The legal battle will also continue, as would their demand for a quick resolution of the rape-murder of a 31-year-old doctor that is at the heart of the protest.
The end of this phase of protest would be marching off from the protest site towards the CGO Complex- the office of the Central Bureau of Investigation.
In its effort to seek a resolution with the state government, the impasse that stood at 41 days came to an end on Monday when doctors sat face to face with the Chief Minister for the third time.
Ms Banerjee had instantly announced the removal of Kolkata police chief Vineet Goyal and two top officials of the health department. The doctors, though, are still pushing for the removal of the health secretary.
“I know they say they will go and discuss and then will decide on lifting the ceasework. But I have requested them to do so, citing the condition of patients, especially in view of the floods in some of the districts,” the Chief Minister had said after the meeting.
The government was yielding to the protests, as declared by the doctors and supported by thousands of city residents.
The 31-year-old doctor was raped and murdered at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College on August 9. The prime suspect is Sanjoy Roy, a civic volunteer with the Kolkata Police, who was stationed at the police outpost at the hospital and had access to all departments.
The protests, which began at the hospital the next day, snowballed and drew in the civil society leading to a massive logjam with the Kolkata state government that even a ‘back to work’ order by the Supreme Court could not resolve. Mamata Banerjee said though the court order has empowered her to use strong-arm tactics, she would not do so, since she did not support ‘Emergency’.
The logjam was caused by the police investigation which left too many questions unanswered, allegations that the police had forced the cremation despite the parents’ unwillingness and an officer’s offer of money to the woman’s parents to bury the case. The officer concerned has been removed as well.
That was followed by the transfer order of the state for Principal Sandip Ghosh hours after he resigned from that post under pressure of public opinion.
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