The protest of junior doctors continues over the rape-murder case of a trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital. They have flatly refused to return to work. The West Bengal government is engaged in resolving the ongoing deadlock in this matter. For this, the protesting junior doctors have been called for talks for the 5th and last time on Monday. The talks could not take place after disagreement over the live streaming of the meeting 2 days ago. Chief Secretary Manoj Pant had sent an email to the protesting junior doctors. In this, they were asked to reach the residence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at Kalighat for talks at 5 pm on Monday.
Even before the meeting, the junior doctors have laid down their conditions. Dr. Subarna Goswami, Additional General Secretary of All India Federation of Government Doctors Association (AIFGDA) said, ‘We want a meeting between the doctors and the Chief Minister. But, this meeting should be held in a transparent environment. It is important to gain the trust of the junior doctors so that they can raise their demands properly. Therefore, the government’s response should be recorded in videography or live streaming.’ He said that why is the government afraid of facing the junior doctors on live streaming? Our main demand is to get timely justice for the Kolkata incident.
The protesting doctors expressed their demands
Dr. Subarna Goswami said, ‘We not only want action against the rapists and murderers, but action should also be taken against those who tried to tamper with the evidence. The investigation process and the entire syndicate of some doctors were misled.’ Let us tell you that the doctors protesting in the case of finding the body of the trainee doctor on August 9 have stopped work in the government hospital. Meanwhile, the junior doctors held a general body meeting after receiving an invitation from the government to decide their next step. Before participating in it, protesting doctor Aniket Mahato said that they will stick to their five-point demands.
Mamata Banerjee did not accept the demand for live streaming
Mamata Banerjee suddenly arrived at the protest site on Saturday. She assured the protesting junior doctors that their demands would be met. She asked the protesting doctors to come for talks, but the proposed meeting was cancelled. The protesters claimed that after waiting for 3 hours at the gate of the CM residence, they were unceremoniously asked to leave. The protesters refused to enter Banerjee’s residence as the government rejected their demand for live telecast. She then came out to appeal to the doctors to join the talks and urged them not to insult her.
(With agency input)