The deadlock between junior doctors and the West Bengal government continued on Saturday, hours after signs of a thaw had emerged in the afternoon when chief minister Mamata Banerjee made an impromptu outreach visit that protesting medics welcomed — only for the impasse to return late evening when both sides did not budge on a key condition for talks: whether or not their parleys would be live-streamed.
Banerjee made a surprise visit to the protest site outside Swasthya Bhavan in Salt Lake where junior doctors are holding a sit-in, urging them to resume work and to trust her efforts to “bring justice”.
“This is my last effort. If you leave the rest to me, I can assure you that you will get justice. I may be the chief minister and belong to a party, but I have come to you as your elder sister. I have solved your problems in the past too. I will try to do it again. Give me some time,” Banerjee said.
In a letter they sent shortly after, the junior doctors welcomed the chief minister’s move and said that they were ready to hold talks anywhere and anytime. “We are more than willing to have a discussion in your esteemed presence with adequate representations and proper transparency as agreed by both the parties,” said an email sent by the doctors to the chief minister around 4:10 pm.
At around 5:08 pm, Manoj Pant, the state’s chief secretary, invited a team of 15 doctors at the chief minister’s residence in Kalighat at 6 pm for a discussion “with open mind”. The striking medics, however, sent a team of 30 representatives along with two videographers that reached Banerjee’s residence around 6:40 pm. The meeting, however, failed to take off.
{{/usCountry}}At around 5:08 pm, Manoj Pant, the state’s chief secretary, invited a team of 15 doctors at the chief minister’s residence in Kalighat at 6 pm for a discussion “with open mind”. The striking medics, however, sent a team of 30 representatives along with two videographers that reached Banerjee’s residence around 6:40 pm. The meeting, however, failed to take off.
{{/usCountry}}The junior doctors requested for a live streaming of the meeting or be allowed to video-graph the proceedings. The state government rejected the proposal, saying the videography would be done by the government only.
As the stalemate showed no signs of coming to an end, Banerjee met the protesters waiting outside in the incessant rain around 8:30 pm.
“We will videograph the entire meeting and share with you the recording after taking the Supreme Court’s permission as the court is hearing the matter. You may trust me. I won’t mislead you. We will share the signed minutes of the meeting,” Banerjee told the junior doctors.
“If you don’t want to hold the meeting, why did you send the letter? Why are you insulting me? You are insulting me. I have been waiting for two hours. I went to the protest site. At least show some respect. Don’t do politics,” a visibly peeved Banerjee told the doctors.
“I cannot accept all your demands. I have already told you why I cant hand over the video recording today,” she added.
At around 9:00 pm, senior bureaucrats including Pant and state home secretary Nandini Chakravorty were seen leaving the chief minister’s residence.
“We demanded a live streaming. It was rejected. We wanted the proceedings to be videographed by both government and our photographers. Even that was rejected. We were told that we would be given the signed minutes only. As the chief minister was requesting us, we decided to trust her and respect her. But when we went to say that were ready to hold the meeting, we were told that it was too late and meeting can’t be held,” Dr Debashish Halder, a protester, told the media.
“We will decide on the future course of action after a general body meeting,” said one protester, asking not to be named.
Some of the protesters broke down in tears as the talks failed. The medics are on strike over the past 35 days demanding justice for a colleague who was posted at the RG Kar Hospital in the state capital, where she was allegedly raped and murdered last month.
The doctors have defied a deadline set by the Supreme Court for the medics to resume duty.
This is the second time negotiations failed. On Thursday, a scheduled meeting at the state secretariat did not take place over the junior doctors insisting the proceedings be live-streamed.
The doctors have placed five demands before the government - justice for the RG Kar victim; suspension and removal of some top health officials including the state health secretary; the resignation of Kolkata police commissioner Vineet Goyal; proper security in hospitals; and an end to the “threat culture” in health care facilities.