Bengal doctors continue strike as Supreme Court deadline to resume work ends
The Supreme Court on Monday directed the striking junior doctors to resume their duties by 5pm on Tuesday to avoid adverse action by the state government
The junior doctors in State-run hospitals across West Bengal, demanding justice for the RG Kar Hospital victim since August 9, continued with the cease-work on Tuesday well passed the 5 pm-deadline set by the Supreme Court a day earlier.
The striking medics, instead, upped the ante by taking the protests to the doorsteps of Swasthya Bhavan from RG Kar Hospital on Tuesday. They held a rally and started a sit-in outside Sawsthya Bhavan in Salt Lake after being stopped by the police.
“We are disappointed with the Supreme Court’s order. We have given a deadline to the state government till 5 pm on Tuesday to meet our demands. The cease work will continue till the government meets our demands. So, whether the cease work will continue or not depends on the government,” said a protesting doctor.
The apex court on Monday directed the striking junior doctors to resume their duties by 5pm on Tuesday to avoid adverse action by the state government. The court passed the direction after the West Bengal government assured it that no action, including punitive transfers, shall be taken against the protesting doctors if they resume work.
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West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee too requested junior doctors on Monday to return to duty shortly after the Chief Justice of India’s division bench hearing the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital rape and murder case urged the agitators to resume work by 5pm on Tuesday.
“The Supreme Court has asked the doctors to join duty. I also make the same request. If you want to say something you are always welcome. Form a team of 5 or 10 people and meet me,” Banerjee had said on Monday at the state secretariat.
The junior doctors on Tuesday reached Swasthya Bhavan demanding resignation of Kolkata Police commissioner, health secretary, director of health education and director of medical education and justice for the victim among others.
“The corruption which has crept into our health system needs to be cleaned. We will continue with our sit and cease work unless our demands are met,” Kinjal Nanda, a protesting doctor told the media.
A few hundred junior doctors marched from Karunamoyee to Swasthya Bhavan, covering a distance of around 2 km. They carried brooms and replicas of a human brain and eye. Police set up barricades with iron guard rails to stop the rally around 100 metres ahead of Swasthya Bhavan. The protestors sat on the road, shouting slogans, without breaking the barricades.
“We are ready to hold talks with junior doctors. Let them come and meet us,” said a top official of the state health department.
Last week the striking doctors organised a similar rally to Lal Bazar, headquarters of the Kolkata Police, demanding the resignation of the city police chief. The 22-hour sit-in ended after a delegation of doctors were allowed to meet the police commissioner and they submitted a deputation to him demanding his resignation.
The state government had told the Supreme Court on Monday that at least 23 patients have died in various State-run hospitals due to the junior doctors’ strike.