Kolkata Rape and Murder: Junior Doctors Agree for Meeting with Government at Their Terms
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 11: Agitating junior doctors in West Bengal have agreed to attend a meeting with the state government over the current impasse in the health sector in the state, but at their own terms.
The junior doctors have said they would send at least a 30-member delegation to attend the meeting which must be held in the presence of the chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the entire proceedings must be telecast live to ensure transparency. They also maintained that the meeting must be centred around their five-point demands.
The five-point demands included holding all individuals responsible for the rape and murder – as well as any destruction of evidence – accountable and punishing them; taking strict disciplinary action against former RG Kar Medical College and Hospital Principal Sandip Ghosh; the resignation of Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal and Health Secretary Narayan Swaroop Nigam among others; and ensuring adequate security measures for healthcare workers. The demands also speak about eliminating a ‘threat culture’ prevailing in government healthcare institutions.
The e-mail sent to the state government on Wednesday evening was in response to the second invitation to the junior doctors issued by the chief secretary inviting them for talks to break the impasse after the agitating medicos on Tuesday declined to respond to the deadline set by the Supreme Court asking them to return to work by 5 P.M. on Tuesday.
“We invite your delegation, preferably consisting of 12-15 colleagues to join us for a discussion at 6 p.m. today, i.e. 11.09.2024, in Nabanna. A list of the members of your delegation may please be intimated by email. We look forward to your positive response and hope for a fruitful dialogue,” State Chief Secretary Manoj Pant had said in the letter.
Agitating junior doctors sent the e-mail reply to the Chief Minister seeking an appointment to discuss the ongoing impasse arising out of the rape and murder of an on-duty medic. “In their mail, the medics mentioned that they were open for a meeting anytime and anywhere, provided that the entire discussion must be streamed live,” a doctor said. “We have written to the CM madam for a meeting, which could be arranged anytime today or tomorrow and anywhere of her choice. But the meeting should be streamed live,” they said.
The agitating doctors, who have been demonstrating outside Swasthya Bhavan, the state health department headquarter, for more than 22 hours, are demanding that Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal, the State Health Secretary, the Director of Health Education (DHE), and the Director of Health Services (DHS) be removed from their posts. They also demanded adequate safety and security measures for all women health professionals in the State.
In his letter to the protesting doctors, Chief Secretary Manoj Pant pointed out that patients were being affected by the protests and that the doctors had not adhered to the Supreme Court deadline of resuming their duties by 5 pm on Tuesday.
“It is important to take a serious note that the common people have been deprived of your vital services, compassionate care and the healing touch over the past 32 days. Keeping this aspect in view, the honourable Supreme Court, in its order dated 9th September 2024, directed that junior doctors must resume duties by 5 p.m. on 10th September 2024. You will, no doubt, appreciate and agree that, as a law-abiding citizen, it is everyone’s bounden duty to adhere to these directions. Unfortunately, it has not been adhered to so far,” Mr Pant wrote.
Appealing to the doctors to resume their duties and appreciating their openness to dialogue, he added, “Once again, as another opportunity, we invite your delegation – preferably consisting of 12-15 colleagues – to join us for a discussion at 6.00 pm today, i.e. 11.09.2024, in Nabanna. A list of the members of your delegation may please be intimated by email. We look forward to your positive response and hope for a fruitful dialogue.”
While the Supreme Court had indicated it would allow the West Bengal government to take action against the doctors if they did not return to work by 5 pm on Tuesday, Chief Minister Banerjee has said she would prefer to end the impasse through talks. The state government’s approach is also being seen as a way to neutralise the anger against it over its handling of the rape and murder case, whose investigation was transferred from the Kolkata Police to the CBI.
The junior doctors, however, has kept the agitation apolitical and on Wednesday turned out the BJP leader Agnimitra Paul from joining the demonstration. She was greeted with “go back” slogans by agitating junior doctors when she was seen near the site where they were holding a sit-in near ‘Swasthya Bhavan.’ Ms Paul, however, claimed that she did not go there to join the protests, but was merely passing through the area on her way to the nearby BJP office.
She told reporters: “I was not there to participate in the protest or to add a political colour to it. I was passing by the area on my way to the BJP office, which is nearby. The roads on both ends of the party office were closed due to the students’ agitation. I support the junior doctors’ protests, I did not go there to join them.”
One of the agitating doctors claimed Ms Paul was trying to politicise the agitation. “She was speaking to the media while standing beside the protest venue. She could have simply passed without making any statement. She was making a political remark, which is why we raised the ‘go back’ slogans,” the medic said.
