End fast, join talks: Mamata Banerjee to doctors
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday urged the junior doctors protesting the rape and murder of their colleague at RG Kar Hospital to end their fast-unto-death stir, stating that most of their demands had been addressed while rejecting their insistence on removing the state Health Secretary.
Taking forward the proposal for talks, Chief Secretary Manoj Pant later in the evening invited the medics for talks with Banerjee for “45 minutes” on Monday at the state secretariat if they “withdraw the hunger strike”.
However, the protesting doctors refused to end their hunger strike until all their demands were met but agreed to join the talks on Monday. Speaking to the doctors over the phone during a visit by Pant and Home Secretary Nandini Chakraborty to the protest site in Esplanade this afternoon, Banerjee said, “Everybody has the right to protest, but it shouldn’t affect the healthcare services. I request you all to withdraw your fast.”
Banerjee rejected the junior doctors’ demand for the removal of state Health Secretary Narayan Swaroop Nigam, explaining that “it is not possible to remove everyone in a department at once; we have already removed the DHS and the DME, so please rise above politics and rejoin work.” The junior doctors have been on fast-unto-death for the past 15 days, demanding justice for their deceased colleague and calling for systemic changes in the state’s healthcare infrastructure.
