Doctors' Strike Called Off After Government Accepts Demands; Sit-In Protest To Continue (Photo on X @Nam_Magal3)
Following the assurance of safety and security measures implementation from West Bengal Chief Secretary Manoj Pant, the protesting doctors in Kolkata have now decided to call off their month-long strike that began on the heels of the horrific rape and murder of a trainee doctor at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9.
The chief secretary has reportedly agreed to the demands of the junior doctors they outlined before Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to cease their demonstration and return to work. The doctors were off from their work, leading to the death of several patients in the hospitals despite the court directed them to resume their duty.
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However, while agreeing to call off their strike, the doctors have indicated that they continue to be on strike until they witness concrete action on their demands. Earlier, two reconciliation attempts by the government with the protesters failed as doctors refused to attend the meeting without live telecasting. The chief minister later reached the protesters’ site, assuring support for their demonstration.
Following this, 42 doctors met with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and other government officials on Monday and put forward their demands, which the government accepted. The demands are; Rs 100 crore fund for infrastructure development in hospitals and rebuilding patient welfare committees; formulation of a special task force headed by the chief secretary with the police commissioner and representatives of junior doctors; formation of a grievance redressal mechanism across hospitals and medical colleges; removal of Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal; DC (North) Abhishek Gupta; and Director of Health Services (DHS) and Director of Medical Education (DME).
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While some of the demands have materialized so far, the formation of the task force and a comprehensive system for grievance redressal is yet to be implemented. According to a report by the Hindustan Times, the state government is working towards introducing updated safety mechanisms such as CCTV cameras and increased police deployments at hospitals.
However, the doctors are still skeptical about the implementation of their complete demands. Junior doctor Aniket Mahata has said that until the government shows progress on all fronts, the protests will not stop and that the sit-in will continue, the media house quoted. The doctors have said that they would continue to cease working in the Outpatient Department (OPD), though they would attend in emergency and essential situations.
