Medical services in West Bengal remain affected in state-run hospitals and colleges for the sixth day.
Medical services in West Bengal remain affected in state-run hospitals and colleges for the sixth day today as junior doctors continue their protest against the assault on their colleagues allegedly by relatives of a patient who died at NRS Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. Hundreds of doctors have resigned en masse in support of their colleagues. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has urged the junior doctors to return to work and said her government had accepted their demands. She said that the state government was committed towards resuming normal medical services at the soonest. The doctors' stir has spread to other parts of the country as well. News agency Press Trust of India has reported that junior doctors have agreed to meeting with Ms Mamata Banerjee. They have said the meeting should be open for media coverage.
Here are the highlights of the Doctors' protest across India:
West Bengal Junior Doctors Agree To Meet With Mamata Banerjee, Conditions Apply
Agitating junior doctors in West Bengal softened their stand on Sunday and asserted that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was free to decide the venue of the meeting with them, but stressed that it should be held in open. Talking to the media after a two-and-half-hour-long meeting of their governing body, a spokesperson of the joint forum of junior doctors said, "We are keen to end this impasse. We are ready to hold talks with the chief minister at a venue of her choice, provided it is held in the open, in the presence of media persons, and not behind closed doors." The spokesperson said the venue should be spacious enough to accommodate representatives from all medical colleges and hospitals in the state.
News agency Press Trust of India has reported that junior doctors have agreed to meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. They have said the meeting should be open for media coverage.
- The impasse in West Bengal showed signs of easing as agitating doctors said Saturday night that they were open for talks with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to end their stir, but they would decide on the venue of the meeting later.
- On Saturday evening, they had turned down an invite for a closed-door meeting with Mamata Banerjee at the state secretariat.
- They had instead asked her to visit the NRS Medical College and Hospital for an open discussion to resolve the impasse.
- The striking doctors said they would wait for their governing body to decide on the proposed venue for the meeting.
- The Ministry of Home Affairs had issued an advisory seeking a report on the stir. Mamata Banerjee reacted sharply to it and said such advisory should be "sent to states like Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat where several murders are reported since the last couple of years".
- West Bengal Governor K N Tripathi wrote to Ms Banerjee advising her to take immediate steps to provide security to the doctors and find out a solution to the impasse.
- Mamata Banerjee said her government has not invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) even after five days of the strike by the junior doctors.
Ministry of Home Affairs issued an advisory - It said that it has received a number of representations from doctors, healthcare professionals and medical associations from different parts of the country for their safety and security in view of the strike in West Bengal.
- Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan asked states to consider enacting specific legislation for protecting doctors and medical professionals from any form of violence in the wake Bengal assault on junior doctors.
Patients in Delhi felt the impact of doctors' stir- Patients in Delhi faced hardships for the second consecutive day as protest by doctors in solidarity with their striking colleagues in Kolkata
- The impact of the strike of doctors in Kolkata had spread to several government hospitals.
Puducherry doctors show solidarity with protesting doctors in Kolkata- Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research (JIPGMER) has announced that OPD, Laboratory and Elective Surgeries services will remain suspended on Monday.
- The notice here has been issued in solidarity with protesting doctors in Kolkata, who have refused to blink and go back to their duties, following a gruesome attack on a fellow practitioner.
- All emergency services will function as usual.