News Brief
Kolkata Rape-Murder: Protesting Junior Doctors Continue 'Cease Work' Despite State Government's Action Against Officials— Here's Why
Striking junior doctors display their stethoscopes (Representative Image)
Junior doctors in Kolkata have decided to continue their 'cease work' protest in response to the rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
The protesting doctors said that they will continue the agitation until the Mamata Banerjee-led government fulfil all of their demands, and will seek further dialogue with state government regarding unmet demands.
In a statement, the West Bengal Junior Doctors' Front said that many attempts were made to malign their movement.
"Due to our movement's pressure, the state government was forced to remove the Police Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner North, Director of Health Services and Director of Medical Education. This is a partial victory of our movement," they said, NDTV reported.
The doctors said that in their meeting with CM Banerjee on Monday (16 September), there was no decision on their demand to remove the Principal Secretary (Health).
"The Chief Minister gave us a verbal assurance, but we have not seen any step in the direction so far," they said.
The doctors' body stressed that increasing hospital security alone will not guarantee their safety without improvements in healthcare services.
They urged the government to recruit more healthcare staff and provide counselling services in hospitals.
The junior doctors said that they had requested the formation of a college-level task force to tackle these issues during their meeting with the Chief Minister.
"We think more discussions are needed. It is not clear how these demands will be fulfilled," they said.
The doctors also underlined their call for an end to the "politics of fear" in medical colleges and democratic student union elections.
"The Chief Minister announced from our protest site that patient welfare committees will be dissolved, but we got nothing in writing and there is no clarity on how these committees will be set up again," they said.
The doctors' body urged the government to engage in dialogue and meet their demands.
"We want to return to work," the junior doctors said.
