Bengal: Junior doctors to meet with government; strike to continue

Junior doctors in West Bengal, who have been protesting for 15 days, said they will attend a meeting called by the government on Monday but will not withdraw their hunger strike.
On Saturday, chief minister Mamata Banerjee urged the doctors to end their fast after she had conceded to most of their demands.
Debasish Halder, one of the agitating medics, told PTI after a general body meeting of the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front on Sunday, that one of the conditions of the meeting with the CM had been a withdrawal of the hunger strike, but the doctors would wait until the discussion to take that call.
Earlier, the junior doctors had also threatened that they would escalate their protest by organising a strike of all medical professionals in West Bengal on October 22 if their demands are not met.
One of the main points of contention has been surrounding Mamata Banerjee’s refusal to remove secretary of health N S Nigam.
She said on Saturday, “It is not possible to remove everyone in a department at once; we have already removed the DHS (Director of Health Services) and DME (Director of Medical Education). Please rise above politics and rejoin work.”
Halder expressed concern over the health of the hunger strike participants, noting that among the eight medics currently fasting, three have been on strike since October 5 and six other medics participating in the hunger strike have fallen seriously ill and required hospitalisation.
Halder said those on hunger strike will not attend the meeting due to health concerns. The hunger strike comes after months of cease-work protests by the doctors who are demanding justice for the victim of the RG Kar rape and murder case.
Apart from the resignation of N S Nigam, the CM has also rejected the doctors’ demands for elections in medical colleges. The doctors have also asked for a centralised referral system for all hospitals and medical colleges, implementing a bed vacancy monitoring system, and forming task forces to ensure essential provisions such as CCTV, on-call rooms, and washrooms at their workplaces.