Junior doctors continue sit-in, seek another meeting with Mamata
Junior doctors continued their ‘cease work’ stir in hospitals and sit-in near Swasthya Bhavan, the state health department headquarters, on Wednesday morning demanding justice for the medic raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital and removal of Health Secretary.
The sit-in agitation outside the Swasthya Bhavan entered its ninth day while the ‘cease work’ stir in hospitals continued for the 40th day on Wednesday.
“The removal of Health Secretary N S Nigam and the elimination of the threat culture in state-run hospitals are crucial for rebuilding the collapsed healthcare system. We have requested another meeting with the Chief Minister,” said one of the protesting doctors from the agitation site.
The removal of the Health Secretary is one of the key points in their five-point demand.
The doctors wrote to West Bengal Chief Secretary Manoj Pant, seeking a discussion on certain “key unresolved issues” like security in hospitals as a pre-condition for lifting their ongoing dharna outside the state health department headquarters.
They highlighted issues of safety and security inside state-run hospital premises and details of the promised special task force headed by the chief secretary as agenda for the proposed meeting.
“In reference to our last meeting with the CM, we would like to reiterate there were certain key points regarding our five-point demand which were unresolved. Particularly our 4th and 5th points, concerning the development of healthcare system, safety, security and prevailing threat culture,” they wrote in their email.
According to a statement issued following the conclusion of their general body meeting, which had started around 6.30 pm on Tuesday and went on till well past midnight, the protestors called the state's administrative measures “only partial victory” of their movement.
The doctors also demanded discussions on the safety and security of doctors inside hospital premises and a thorough rundown on how the government wants to spend the Rs 100 crore it has allocated for tightening doctors' safety in state-run hospitals.
“No effective security measures can be implemented in hospitals without a thorough overhaul of public healthcare delivery mechanism including streamlining of the referral system, the appointment of health workers and professional patient counsellors, plugging of admission corruption and ensuring availability of life-saving drugs,” the statement read.
The doctors demanded immediate notification of the chief secretary-headed task force in medical colleges which was promised at the meeting at Banerjee's residence on Monday.
They also demanded that student body elections be held and adequate representation of junior doctors in the highest policy-making bodies of those institutions be ensured.
On Tuesday the state government appointed Manoj Kumar Verma as the new commissioner of Kolkata Police, replacing Vineet Goyal, a day after Banerjee held a meeting with the agitating junior doctors and agreed to their demands, in a bid to resolve the more than a month-long impasse over the Kar hospital incident.
Director of Health Services (DHS) Debashis Halder, Director of Medical Education (DME) Kaustav Nayak and Deputy Commissioner of Kolkata Police's North Division Abhishek Gupta were also removed as promised by Banerjee during the meeting.
