New Delhi: Defying the Supreme Court’s deadline to rejoin their duties by 5 pm on Tuesday, hundreds of junior doctors of West Bengal marched towards Swasthya Bhawan (health secretariat) voicing their demand for justice for the rape-murder victim at R G Kar Hospital. They also asked the state government to meet their demands by 5 pm on Tuesday.
Their charter of five demands includes the resignation of the Kolkata Police Commissioner, state Health Secretary, Director of Health Education (DHE), and Director of Health Services (DHS). The medics said if the government fails to meet their demands, they would hold a sit-in in front of health secretariat.
Barricades were set up to stop the marching protesters at the Swasthya Bhawan entrance and a massive police contingent was deployed at the place.
The agitating medics displayed brooms and a replica of human brain while marching towards the West Bengal health department headquarters in Salt Lake. They also held placards that read ‘Brains For Justice Not Against It’.
“If the state government meets our demands, we will think about joining duty,” one of the protesting doctors was quoted as saying by PTI. “We want the state government to ‘clean’ the health sector. We are carrying the brooms to initiate the cleaning programme. We are, however, open to any kind of discussion with the state government,” he added.
Mamata offers direct dialogue
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has pointed out that she doesn’t want to take action against the protesting doctors right now and prefers to resolve the issue through dialogue. On Monday, Mamata Banerjee offered direct talks with the protesting doctors to address their issues.
According to the government’s claim, patient care has been hit hardest at hospitals because of the protests and that 23 patients have died during the period since the agitations have been going on. Reacting to these claims of the government, the medics have called it a blatant falsehood.
On Monday, the Supreme Court said that the agitating doctors must resume duties by 5pm on Tuesday, and if they fail the state government will be authorised to initiate disciplinary action against the protesters.