Trainee doctors on protest in Kolkata on Thursday evening said that they will join emergency services on Saturday but did not call off their protests. They said that they will not deliver their services to the out-patient departments (OPD) across government hospitals as part of their dharna demanding justice in the case of the alleged rape-and-murder of their colleague in August.
The members of the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front said that they will withdraw their dharna from the site outside Kolkata’s Swashthya Bhavan and will rally to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) office in Kolkata.
“In light of the fact that the majority of our demands were being met, we view this as an initial victory. Therefore, tomorrow we will withdraw our protest in front of the Health Department. We will return to each medical college to discuss the SOP for essential services and will join the essential services from the day after tomorrow, while our strike on other issues will continue,” the doctors said.
“If the threat culture does not end within 7 days, we will launch a bigger movement,’ the trainee doctors’ federation warned.
The trainee doctors have been protesting outside the Swashthya Bhavan for over nine days and said that they will ask the CBI how long it will take to complete the probe into the alleged rape-and-murder of the trainee doctors at RG Kar Medical College And Hospital (RGKMCH).
“We will ask the CBI how long it will take to get justice. They must provide an answer,” West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front members said.
“We will wait for week for implementation of all promises of the Bengal government; if unfulfilled, we will resume ‘cease work’,” the medics further added.
Earlier this week Mamata Banerjee held a meeting with the agitating junior doctors and agreed to their demands of removing certain officials from their roles, in a bid to resolve the more than a month-long impasse over the RG Kar hospital incident.
She appointed Manoj Kumar Verma as the new Kolkata Police chief, replacing Vineet Goyal, and removed two senior health department officials, giving in to the medics’ earlier demands.
Director of Health Services (DHS) Debashis Halder, Director of Medical Education (DME) Kaustav Nayak and Deputy Commissioner of Kolkata Police’s North Division Abhishek Gupta were also removed as promised by Banerjee during the meeting.
The medic’s body with severe injury marks was found on August 9. A civic volunteer was arrested by the Kolkata Police in connection with the case the following day.
On August 13, the Calcutta High Court ordered the transfer of the probe from the Kolkata Police to the CBI, which started its investigation on August 14.
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