Agitating doctors continue sit-in, 'cease work'; await state's action on ground

The protesting doctors expressed satisfaction over their "partial success" after a meeting with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the fifth attempt on Monday night. "We have already said that we will decide our next step regarding the ongoing agitation and 'cease work' only after seeing concrete actions on the ground and the progress of the Supreme Court proceedings.

"Our aim is to get justice, and while we have achieved partial success, the health secretary has not been removed," a protesting doctor said at the protest site near Swasthya Bhawan, the West Bengal health department's headquarters, on Tuesday.

Accepting the bulk of the five-point charter of demand placed by the agitating junior doctors, Banerjee had on Monday night announced her decision to transfer a section of Kolkata Police and the state health department top brass, including CP Vineet Goyal, from their respective positions.

Banerjee also announced the removal of the Director of Medical Education (DME) and the Director of Health Services (DHS) besides the Deputy Commissioner (North Division) who allegedly offered money to the parents of the RG Kar victim.

An agitating doctor said they were eager to see what posts these officials would be assigned to as it would impact their stance on the next course of action, including consideration of withdrawing the sit-in and 'cease work'. "We will announce the name of the new police commissioner after 4 pm on Tuesday after the scheduled hearing in Supreme Court gets over," the chief minister said at the stroke of midnight after concluding her meeting with the agitating junior doctors at her Kalighat residence, barely hours ahead of the scheduled Supreme Court hearing on the RG Kar hospital matter.

The decisions were formalised in the minutes of the meeting which was signed by Chief Secretary Manoj Pant and countersigned by the delegation of 42 doctors who participated in the talks to end the RG Kar hospital deadlock. Medics and locals celebrated the announcements at midnight by beating drums and blowing conch shells at the Swasthya Bhawan agitation site. On Tuesday morning, they were seen singing collectively and raising slogans.

The agitating doctors are on 'cease work' across the state for 38 days after the rape and murder of a postgraduate intern at RG Kar hospital came to light on August 9, severely crippling healthcare services at state-run hospitals. The signed minutes of the meeting with the CM documented a sanction of Rs 100 crore for infrastructure development in hospitals for doctors and rebuilding of patient welfare committees as more inclusive with stakeholders.

To tackle safety-security measures in hospitals, a special task force headed by the chief secretary and having as members the home secretary, DGP, CP Kolkata and representatives of junior doctors, the minutes stated. It also documented the setting up of an "effective and responsive grievance redressal mechanism" in medical infrastructure across hospitals and colleges of the state.

Earlier on Monday, talks between the state government and the agitating junior doctors began around 6.50 pm after four unsuccessful previous bids to initiate a dialogue to resolve the deadlock. The meeting lasted for about two hours.

It took another three hours to complete the process of finalising the minutes of the meeting in the presence of the state chief secretary. Previous attempts to resolve the issue got stuck due to the state government's rejection of the doctors' demand for live-streaming and video recordings of the meeting.

The agitating medics later agreed to a compromise, asking only to record the minutes of the meeting and receive a signed copy. The state government also allowed the two stenographers, accompanying the agitating doctors, inside the venue to record the minutes of the meeting.

On Saturday, Banerjee made a surprise visit to the protest site and assured the doctors that their demands would be addressed. However, the proposed meeting fell through when the protesters claimed they were asked to leave "unceremoniously" after waiting for three hours at the gates of the CM's residence.