Protesting Bengal Doctors At Secretariat For Meeting With Officials

The protesting junior doctors of Kolkata, who are continuing their ceasework even after a chunk of their demands have been met, have reached the state secretariat for another round of meeting about their remaining demands.

The doctors had refused to stop their ceasework after Monday's meeting with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, saying although she had given them verbal assurance to meet their demands, they would wait for its implementation.

The state government has so far transferred the Kolkata police chief and two top health officials. But the doctors say several points on their wishlist are yet to be ticked off.  

Their big unmet demand is the removal of the health secretary, but there has been no decision on it yet, they contend. During their meeting with Ms Banerjee on Monday, she gave them a "verbal assurance, but we have not seen any step in the direction so far," they have said.

The doctors, who have been on ceasework for more than 40 days, had written to the state government today, seeking more discussions on their unmet demands. They were asked to come for a meeting in the evening.

In their statement to the media, the doctors had also flagged yesterday's Supreme Court's reservations about the state's plan to have volunteers put on security duty at hospitals. Even if that is taken care of, doctors cannot be safe till health services are improved, they had said, pointing to frequent targetting of healthcare professionals by families of patients.

"Ordinary people face problems due to corruption in the allotment of hospital beds, and shortage of life-saving drugs. We want a solution to all these problems," the doctors' forum said.

This, they added, can only be resolved through a corruption-free services, more staff and counselling services bereaved families.