Chief Secretary says govt. has accepted seven of 10 demands, urges doctors to call off fast; doctors express disappointment over the discussions, seek time frame for implementation of all demands
The meeting between the representatives of 12 doctors’ associations and West Bengal Chief Secretary Manoj Pant remained inconclusive on Monday as the government said that it cannot put a time frame for the implementation of certain demands of protesting junior doctors.
After the meeting that lasted for more than two hours, the Chief Secretary said the State government had accepted seven of the 10 demands made by the junior doctors who are on a fast-unto-death.
With the junior doctors insisting on continuing their hunger strike till all their demands are met, the stalemate is likely to continue.
“Of 10 demands, seven have been met and work is already in progress. The intent of the government is positive. Our stand is positive as to why putting a timeline is not possible on certain demands of the doctors,” Mr. Pant told journalists after the meeting. He also urged the protesting doctors to call off their strike. “We are concerned about their health and well-being. We appeal
to them to withdraw their hunger strike,” he said.
‘Vague answers’
The representatives of the doctors’ bodies who participated in the meeting said they were disappointed with the talks. “We had come with a lot of optimism but were disappointed with the talks. The Chief Secretary only listened to us and gave vague answers,” a representative of Medical Service Centre, a union of doctors, said.
The fast-unto-death by junior doctors entered the tenth day on Monday. The health condition of Tanya Panja, one of the doctors on hunger strike, deteriorated in the evening.
Dr. Panja, who has been on hunger strike since October 5, was admitted to the Medical College, Kolkata. So far, five doctors have been hospitalised after their health condition deteriorated.
The protesting doctors under the West Bengal Junior Doctors Front also took out a procession to
the Raj Bhavan to highlight that they were not satisfied with the investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the rape and murder of a doctor at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9.
The CBI, in a chargesheet filed earlier this month, named Sanjay Roy, a civic police volunteer, as the only accused in the crime. “Hon’ble Governor received the memorandum from the WB Junior Doctors’ Front on their concerns about the RG Kar issue,” the Raj Bhavan Media Cell said in a post on social media.
Meanwhile, senior doctors from private hospitals across West Bengal started a 48-hour cease-work protest and a 12-hour symbolic hunger strike on Monday to mark their support for the junior doctors.
Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee, meanwhile, targeted the protesting doctors. “What kind of hunger strike is this? It starts from the protest venue and ends once they get hospitalised. The hunger strike that we know is a fast-unto-death, not a fastunto-hospitalisation,” the MP said.
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