Kolkata Rape-Murder: Junior doctors withdraw hunger strike after meeting CM Mamata Banerjee

KOLKATA: Agitating junior doctors on Monday evening withdrew their weeks-long hunger strike over the RG Kar incident, hours after a meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The medics also called off their proposed shutdown in the state's health sector from Tuesday till an indefinite period.

"In today's meeting (with the CM), we did get the assurance of some directives, but the body language of the state government was not positive... The common people have wholeheartedly supported us. They, as well as the parents of our deceased sister (RG Kar hospital victim), have been requesting us to call off the hunger strike, keeping in mind our deteriorating health.

"We are therefore withdrawing our 'fast-unto-death' and also Tuesday's total shutdown in the health sector, but this is not a result of today's meeting but because the request came from the common people and the parents of Abhaya. This does not mean that we are ending the protest. In the coming days, we will conduct it in a vigorous manner," said Debashish Halder, one of the junior medics. He said that on Saturday, the junior doctors would hold a mass convention on their various demands. The decision was taken following a general body meeting of the doctors.

Speaking more about the meeting, Halder expressed his surprise that the meeting was held live though they were not told about that. "We had demanded live streaming of our meeting with the CM for the sake of transparency which was turned down. But today's meeting was held live," he added. "We have repeatedly placed 10 demands. But on the issue of threat culture, the CM got angry asking why she was not informed. There has been an attempt to silence us when the issue of threat culture cropped up. Student polls will be held in medical colleges in March next year, which is a victory for us," he said.

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Parents of the deceased doctor visited the agitating doctors at the hunger strike site in Esplanade. Earlier in the day, a 17-member delegation of the medics met Banerjee at the state secretariat and discussed various issues, including the prevailing "threat culture" in hospitals, justice for their deceased colleague and systemic changes in the state's healthcare infrastructure.

During the talks, held on the 17th day of the fast unto death by some agitating doctors, Banerjee urged the junior medics to end their fast. Although both sides agreed on the prevailing threat culture, they differed on the underlying forces and situations that promote it.

Junior doctor's meet CM Mamata Banerjee

"At RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, several junior doctors and medical students were suspended without following proper procedures and rules. How can these students or resident doctors be suspended just on the basis of complaints? Who gave the college authorities the right to take such a step without informing the state government? Isn't this a threat culture?" the chief minister said.

Following this, Aniket Mahato, who had to be hospitalised after five days of fasting, countered Banerjee by saying those who were suspended "have been very much part of the threat culture and don't deserve to be doctors." "The atmosphere of the medical college campus has been vitiated by these goons under the guise of students. If you recheck their answer sheets, you will see these students don't deserve to get even pass marks," he said.

Referring to the demand for the removal of Health Secretary NS Nigam, which the chief minister has so far resisted, she protested against labelling him as "accused of supporting the threat culture" without any concrete proof. An agitating doctor Kinjal Nanda informed Banerjee that they had repeatedly raised concerns in writing with the state health department over the past three years about the "toxic" environment at RG Kar Hospital.

Nanda added, "Woman medics were subjected to inappropriate advances by a group of their male counterparts, and those who faced sexual harassment had no proper channel to file their complaints." During the meeting, both sides expressed differing views at times. "If you start an agitation, you should know how to end it. It is not right to assume that all your demands will be accepted. You are free to present your demands, but we also have the right to assess whether they are justified or not," Banerjee said.

CM Mamata Banerjee's requests for junior doctors

During the meeting, Banerjee referred to her 26-day fasting during Singur agitation. Promising to look into their demands, she requested the junior doctors to convince their colleagues to withdraw the fast and rejoin duties. "We want all of you to remain fit and healthy and prosper in your lives. I am also a product of a mass movement. I am really disturbed that some of your colleagues are on a fast. I would request you all to withdraw the fast," she said at the conclusion of the meeting that began at 5 pm and ended at 7.17 pm.

Chief Secretary Manoj Pant promised to issue written directives for constituting task force and grievance committees and a timeline to implement doctors' demand by 3 pm on October 22. "We want RDAs and MBBS student unions to be statutory bodies authorised by the government via a statute by West Bengal University of Health Sciences, and elected representatives from these bodies be elected into the aforementioned committees," Agnibin Kundu, one of the protesting doctors, said.

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.