West Bengal Doctors End 17-day Hunger Strike

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 long-awaited meet between the Chief Minister and the doctors lasted nearly two hours, discussing various demands of the medics. The medics also called off their proposed strike across hospitals in the state on Tuesday.

The junior doctors have been on a fast-unto-death for the last 17 days, demanding justice for their deceased colleague and calling for systemic changes in the state’s healthcare infrastructure.

“In today’s meeting (with the Chief Minister), 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,” said Debashish Halder, one of the junior medics.

A delegation of ten junior doctors, invited by the state government last week for talks, met the Chief Minister at the state secretariat Nabanna and placed their ten demands that stemmed out of the brutal rape and murder of an-duty female doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9.

Apart from Banerjee, state chief secretary Manoj Pant and state home secretary Nandini Chakraborty and state health secretary N.S. Nigam, whose removal had been sought by the junior doctors, attended the meeting.

Referring to the demand for the removal of health secretary Nigam, Banerjee said, “You cannot call a person accused without any concrete proof. First, you have to provide evidence; then you can call a person accused,” she said, to which an agitating doctor responded, “a person can be called accused as per law until he or she is proven guilty”.

Chief Minister sharing her experience of holding agitation in the Left rule in the state, said, “I also did the same in 1993 while demanding a rule for compensation for the victims of custodial deaths which became rampant here. Narasimha Rao was the prime minister then. He sent me a note of two lines requesting me to withdraw my stir on its 21st day and offered to discuss my demand. I accepted his proposal to honour him”.

Responding to the Chief Minister, one of the junior doctors told her that it was her movement that inspired them to launch the agitation.