As the second round of talks remained inconclusive between the protesting junior doctors and the West Bengal government, the medics said their cease work would continue as they received only “verbal assurances” on their demands.
Meeting with the top officials of the state government, aimed at resolving the ongoing strike, went on for 6 hours.
The junior doctors have been protesting for over a month after a 31-year-old trainee doctor was raped and murdered at state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.
“While we appreciate the government’s verbal commitments, we are hopeful for a written directive that formally acknowledges our demands. Until then, we will maintain our current course of action,” Debashish Haldar, a leading member of the junior doctors’ delegation said after coming out of Nabanna, the state secretariat, Indian Express reported.
The protesting doctors said that at the second meeting they highlighted issues of their safety inside state-run hospital premises, and details of formulation and functions of the task force which was promised in the last meeting.
“The government agreed that most of our demands were just and needed immediate implementation. But we were disappointed at the end of the talks when the chief secretary refused to give us a signed minutes of the meeting,” a doctor said, PTI reported.
An unsigned minutes of the meeting released by the Bengal government after the meeting stated that the junior doctors demanded the formation of an inquiry committee against the Principal Health Secretary for alleged misconduct over the past 4-5 years, that include fostering a health syndicate.
The minutes also revealed that the government requested that medics send 4-5 representatives to the state task force on safety and security, but the doctors proposed a broader representation from all medical colleges.
The junior doctors, under the banner of West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Forum (WBJDF), emphasized that including the verbal assurances in the official minutes of the meeting minutes would have been a “sign of good faith and commitment” from the government. Expressing disappointment that their demands were not included in the minutes of the meeting, the delegation said they would discuss with their colleagues, IE reported.
The state capital has been rocked with massive protests ever since the alleged rape and murder of the trainee doctor and subsequent allegations of widespread corruption at government healthcare facilities and arm-twisting of students and trainee doctors, leading to demands for an action against the health secretary.
The first round was held with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at her Kalighat residence on Monday. Mamata Banerjee has been asking the medics withdraw their ‘cease work,’ which has been continuing for the since August 9 when the body of the trainee doctor was found at RG Kar hospital.
After the first meeting, two top health officials and Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal were removed, however, the cease work continued.
With the doctors continuing their strike, they demanded another meeting with the state government over some “unfulfilled demands”. Agreeing readily for the talks, Chief Secretary Manoj Pant sent an invite to meet a delegation of 30 junior doctors at Nabanna.
According to the junior doctors, their demands included the suspensions of more officials, resignation of the state health secretary and security in hospitals.
After their last meeting on Tuesday, junior doctors sent an email to Pant stating, “We were assured in the (previous) meeting (that) a special task force presided by you will be formed to address these issues and further discussions with us would take place regarding its formulation and function.” the junior doctors had written in a fresh email to Pant.
While addressing their mail, Pant said that members of the task force would be present at Wednesday’s meeting and reiterated that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has “already announced the constitution of a task force.”
On Tuesday night, the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front announced that they would continue their cease work until “all demands are met”, calling the state government’s transfers a “partial victory”.
(With inputs from PTI)