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RG Kar protest: Doctors set Oct 21 deadline for Mamata govt, warn strike in Bengal
RG Kar protest: The medics said there may also be a country-wide strike by doctors on Tuesday over the issue.
Junior doctors in West Bengal have threatened to go on a state-wide strike on October 22 if their demands, stemming from the alleged rape and murder of a colleague at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, are not addressed. The agitating medics, who have been protesting for nearly two months, have set a deadline for the state government to meet their demands by October 21.
"We want the chief minister (Mamata Banerjee) to sit for a discussion and implement all our demands," Debasish Halder, one of the agitating junior doctors, told reporters. “Unless this is done, all the junior and senior doctors of both government and private healthcare facilities will be forced to go on strike on Tuesday.”
The junior doctors have been demanding justice for their deceased colleague, a postgraduate trainee doctor from R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, who was allegedly raped and murdered in August. The doctors are also calling for better workplace safety, a centralised referral system, and other reforms in healthcare infrastructure.
"Our colleagues are holding a fast-unto-death. If the chief minister does not act by Monday, we will be forced to go on a strike on Tuesday," Halder said.
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Protester questions Mamata Banerjee
Sayantani Ghosh Hazra, another protesting doctor, questioned why Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had not visited them even though their fast-unto-death has been continuing for 14 days.
"She is the guardian of the state and we are like her children. Could she not visit us once over our valid demands," Hazra, a post-graduate trainee doctor, said.
Hazra has been on fast since October 5.
Also Read | CBI seeks medical board’s help in probe into trainee doctor’s rape-murder
The doctors' demands include the immediate removal of West Bengal Health Secretary N S Nigam, enhanced security measures at hospitals, the installation of CCTV cameras, and the establishment of proper on-call rooms and washrooms. The medics are also pressing for the implementation of a bed vacancy monitoring system to streamline patient care across hospitals.
The junior doctors had previously staged a 42-day cease-work protest following the August 9 incident but called off the strike on September 21 after assurances from the state government. However, the medics allege that these promises have not been fulfilled.
With PTI inputs
