Protesting junior doctors from Bengal will be joined by colleagues from Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences, who said they will hold a candlelight protest at the city’s JLN Auditorium on Wednesday evening.
Junior doctors protesting August’s rape and murder at Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital are on a fast-unto-death, setting up another potential face-off with Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Six people are on a hunger strike and this will continue for an “indefinite period (till) we get justice”, they said last night.
They will be joined this week by colleagues from Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences, who said they will hold a candlelight protest at the city’s JLN Auditorium on Wednesday evening.
Speaking to NDTV Monday morning, a doctor from AIIMS acknowledged his colleagues and he have a duty to their patients and the public and so could not strike indefinitely, but said, “The country has seen junior doctors of Bengal striking for 50 days. The demands have been clear since Day 1 – justice.”
#WATCH | Kolkata, West Bengal | On hunger strike called by Junior Doctors, Dr Aqeeb says, “…Six of our people are sitting on hunger strike right now and we will continue for an indefinite period..Our only demand is we want justice in the RG Kar incident…” (06.10) pic.twitter.com/P2Bhl0z60Y
— ANI (@ANI) October 7, 2024
“But we are seeing questions over the investigation (being led by the Central Bureau of Investigation) and it is so slow…” he said, also launching a fierce criticism of Ms Banerjee.
“Mamata Banerjee is not listening… she is just diverting the topic. Transferring some officails and not changing the ground reality. So how will doctors have a sense of security at the workplace?” he asked, also hitting out at the ‘threat culture’ red-flagged by Bengal doctors.
“It is high time that this ‘threat culture’ should end… not just in Kolkata but anywhere in India. If this is prevalent in any section of scoiety it should end,” he told NDTV, stating that resident doctors from AIIMS would hold a silent march and a candelight protest for their colleagues.
Doctors’ protests against the Bengal administration – over demands that include justice for their colleague, improved workplace safety and security, and a reshuffle of state officials to root out a “threat culture” – renewed last week with a sit-in protest in the heart of Kolkata.
The doctors indicated also the rest would fufill their responsibilities to the public by attending to patients but not eat anything. The state will be held responsible for their condition, they said.
On Friday the doctors had withdrawn a second ‘ceasework’ movement, which had, again, crippled healthcare services at state-run medical colleges and hospitals.