1 week Ago By Apoorva Shukla
Kolkata: Amid West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's request to agitating junior doctors to withdraw their indefinite hunger strike and come for talks, the 'fast-unto-death' of the medics demanding justice entered the 16th day on Sunday. Speaking to doctors on Saturday, Banerjee had asked for 3-4 months time to fulfill the demands stemming from the rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. Taking forward the proposal for talks, Chief Secretary Manoj Pant on Saturday evening invited the medics for talks with Banerjee for "45 minutes" from 5 pm on Monday at state secretariat Nabanna, conditional upon the "withdrawal of the hunger strike".
However, the protesting doctors refused to end their hunger strike until all their demands were met but agreed to join the talks on Monday. This comes after the agitating medics who have been protesting for nearly two months, have set a deadline for the state government to meet their demands by October 21. The doctors threatened that if their demands were not fulfilled, they would launch a state-wide strike on October 22.
CM Asks Doctors To End Stir, Join Duty West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday urged the agitating junior doctors to withdraw their fast unto death and join their duties. Banerjee on Saturday spoke to the agitating doctors over phone during a visit by Pant and Home Secretary Nandini Chakraborty to the protest site in Kolkata's Esplanade area and urged them to end the hunger strike, stating that most of their demands have been addressed while rejecting their insistence on removing the state health secretary. "Everybody has the right to protest, but it shouldn't affect healthcare services.
I would request you all to withdraw your fast. Most of your demands fulfilled, give me 3-4 months more to meet the rest," Mamata Banerjee told junior doctors over the phone. "Don't differ with your demands, request you to sit for talks with government," she added.
Will RG Kar Impasse End? The junior doctors initiated a 'cease-work' on August 9 following the alleged rape and murder of their colleague at RG Kar Hospital, and the hunger strike began on October 5 after nearly 50 days of 'cease-work' in two phases. The agitating doctors have been demanding justice for their murdered colleague along with a safer working environment and immediate removal of Health Secretary NS Nigam. So far, six doctors on hunger strike have been hospitalised due to deteriorating health, while eight others remain on an indefinite fast.
The junior doctors who were sitting on the fast with Aniket Mahato in Kolkata are Snigdha Hazra, Tanaya Panja and Anustup Mukhopadhyay of Kolkata Medical College, Arnab Mukhopadhyay of SSKM Hospital, Pulastha Acharya of NRS Medical College and Hospital, and Sayantani Ghosh Hazra of KPC Medical College. Parichoy Panda from Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratishthan and Alolika Ghorui from Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital joined the protest last week, taking the total number of medics on indefinite fast across the state to 10, including the two at North Bengal Medical College in Siliguri. Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from India and around the world.
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