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Bengal junior docs end cease-work, say hunger strike if demands not met in 24hrs

Oct 04, 2024 10:03 PM IST

The junior doctors have threatened to go on an indefinite hunger strike if the government doesn’t fulfill their demands within 24 hours

KOLKATA: Junior doctors in West Bengal on Friday ended their complete cease-work at state-run medical colleges and hospitals but said they will launch an indefinite hunger strike if the state government fails to meet their demands within 24 hours.

Holding clocks in their hands, the doctors said they will start a hunger strike till death if the government doesn’t fulfill their demands within 24 hours (HT Photo/Samir Jana)
Holding clocks in their hands, the doctors said they will start a hunger strike till death if the government doesn’t fulfill their demands within 24 hours (HT Photo/Samir Jana)

“We are returning to work and ending our cease work while keeping in mind the good of the citizens and the upcoming festive season. The sit-in on the road will, however, continue 24X7. We will start an indefinite hunger strike if the state government fails to meet our demands within 24 hours,” said Debasish Halder, a junior doctor and a prominent face of the movement.

Thousands of junior medics on October 1 resumed their strike across all medical colleges and hospitals after relatives of a patient, who died in the state-run Sagore Dutta Hospital in North 24 Parganas, attacked some junior doctors and nurses on September 27.

The doctors said the state was yet to keep its promise of strengthening security and infrastructure in state-run hospitals.

The decision to end the strike came a day after the junior doctors held a meeting with senior doctors on Thursday.

Dr Aniket Mahata, one of the protesting doctors, stressed that the protests will continue. “We have ended the cease-work not the agitation. Protests will continue in various forms. We will see it to the end till we get justice. We will continue our sit-in and start a hunger strike after completing our duties.”

Junior doctors across the state went on strike on August 9 demanding justice for a junior doctor who was raped and murdered at RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata last month. The incident triggered a nationwide uproar.

On September 9, the Supreme Court asked the doctors to return to work by 5pm on September 10. But the agitators defied the deadline, saying their demands hadn’t been met.

Finally, the junior medics partially ended their strike on September 21 and resumed essential services after the state administration removed the city’s police commissioner and some other officials and the state’s chief secretary issued a set of 10 directives to strengthen hospital security and infrastructure.

The medics have placed a set of 10 demands before the government – justice for the victim, removal of state health secretary, a centralised referral system, digital bed vacancy monitors in all hospitals, task forces in every medical colleges with elected representation of junior doctors, deployment of police in hospitals, filling up of vacancies in hospitals, hold election of student councils, college-level enquiry committees to probe into allegations of threat culture and probe into the alleged corruption in the state medical council among others.

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