Kolkata, Sep 11, 2024
The stalemate over talks between the West Bengal government and the junior doctors protesting outside the Swasthya Bhavan in support of their demands over the R.G. Kar rape and murder case continued on Wednesday after the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Forum (WBJDF) set fresh conditions for accepting the Chief Secretary’s appeal to sit across the discussion table.
On Wednesday afternoon, Chief Secretary Manoj Pant appealed to the protesting doctors to send a delegation of 12-15 representatives to state secretariat Nabanna by 6 p.m. on Wednesday for discussions.
In reply, the junior doctors’ forum said that they want to send a delegation of at least 30 representatives, including one from each of the 26 medical colleges in the state, besides seeking live telecast of the meeting.
The junior doctors’ email reply read, “In reference to the email sent from cs-westbengal@nic.in, we would like to mention few points regarding the proposed meeting. As mentioned in our previous mail, we would like to reiterate some points.
1) We want to send a delegate team of at least 30 representatives.
2) We want the meeting to be live telecasted for the sake of transparency amongall parties.
3) We want the meeting to be based around our 5-point demands.
4) We are re-emphasising our point that we want our discussion to be in the presence of Hon’ble Chief Minister.
We are waiting for your positive response.”
The protesting doctors are demanding the removal of top officials in the state Health Department, including the Health Secretary, Director of Health Services, and Director of Medical Education.
A similar appeal for talks was sent on Tuesday evening by Health Secretary Narayan Swarup Nigam, but it was rejected by the protesting doctors who questioned the rationale behind the appeal coming from the same person whose suspension remained one their primary demands.
“One of our main demands is the suspension of Health Secretary Narayan Swarup Nigam. Yet, the email for a meeting on our demands came from the same Health Secretary’s office, which is insulting,” a junior doctor said on Tuesday.
Keeping that in mind, the appeal on Wednesday was issued by Chief Secretary Manoj Pant.
“We value your openness to dialogue, as constructive discussions are essential for addressing concerns and working together to improve our healthcare infrastructure,” read the appeal by Pant.
On Monday, the Supreme Court had said that doctors in West Bengal protesting against the R.G. Kar rape-murder must resume their duties by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, failing which the state government will be authorised to initiate disciplinary action against them.
However, unnerved by the Supreme Court ultimatum, the junior doctors vowed to continue their agitation and gave a call to march to the Swasthya Bhavan on Tuesday afternoon.(Agency)
