A day after the Supreme Court urged protesting doctors to rejoin their duties by 5 pm on Tuesday, a section of doctors is set to march to the West Bengal Health Department today, in connection with the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
According to the details, the doctors will march to keep their demands before the West Bengal government.
As per a letter shared by junior doctors, some of their demands include separate restrooms and bathrooms for on-duty doctors, adequate security personnel, CCTV, and female security personnel for women, doctors’ restrooms, and proper security measures outside wards and Operation Theatre (OT) rooms.
“However, we want to remind that merely increasing police presence and separating doctors’ rooms will not ensure safety. Ensuring proper patient services in government hospitals is essential to guarantee the safety of doctors and healthcare workers,” the letter read.
“We demand proper government health infrastructure in each district, not mere token appointments of civic doctors and nurses,” the doctors wrote in the letter.
“We want to clearly state to the government that if the state government does not address our demands by 5 pm tomorrow, only then can we consider their request regarding the strike. Otherwise, we will understand that the government does not wish to end the deadlock. In that case, we will hold the government responsible for the situation arising across the state,” the letter, dated September 9, read.
THE SUPREME COURT’s DIRECTIVE
On Monday, the Supreme Court had asked the police and the state administration to ensure the doctors’ safety and had cautioned the doctors could be liable for disciplinary action if continuous abstention from work continued.
During the suo motu hearing in the RG Kar rape case, the top court also noted that the abstention of doctors for the last 28 days had hit the healthcare system of West Bengal and that 23 patients died during this period due to the disruptions.
“We know what is happening on the ground, but doctors must now come back to work, they cannot say senior doctors are working so we will not work, we have put everyone on notice,” the top court said.
“Protests can’t be at the cost of their duties,” the bench stated.
The court also asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to submit a fresh report by September 17 on the probe in the case.
THOUSANDS TOOK PART IN RALLIES ON MONDAY
Rallies were taken out in different parts of the metropolis as part of an event termed ‘9-9-9’, with people assembling for nine minutes when the clock struck 9 on Monday evening, demanding justice for the RG Kar hospital doctor.
Singing the national anthem, hundreds gathered for nine minutes at Shyambazar, Esplanade, New Town, Jadavpur 8B terminus, apart from Bally and Mandirtala in neighbouring Howrah town.
The protesters also displayed mobile flashlights for nine minutes and shouted slogans, demanding punishment for the culprits.
The body of the postgraduate trainee was found with injury marks in a seminar room at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. She was allegedly raped and killed while on duty. The incident has triggered nationwide outrage and protests.
MAMATA BANERJEE, BJP IN BLAME GAME
Soon after the Supreme Court hearing, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, speaking at an administrative review meeting at the state secretariat ‘Nabanna’, denied accusations that she offered monetary compensation to the deceased doctor’s family.
Mamata called such claims “slanderous lies” and part of a broader conspiracy.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Delhi pressed for Banerjee’s resignation as the Chief Minister, saying her “dirty face” was exposed in the Supreme Court during a hearing on the case.
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