In recent news, the West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has agreed to 3 out of the 5 demands that the protesting junior doctors presented.
On 17th August, doctors from hospitals across India went on a nationwide strike after the horrifying rape and murder of a junior doctor at state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.
The country fell into chaos after the semi-naked body of a trainee doctor was found on 9th August in the seminar hall of the medical college where she had been brutally raped and murdered.
The Indian Medical Association issued a statement writing “Emergencies and casualties will function. No OPDs. No elective surgeries. The withdrawal commences at 6 am on Saturday 17th August 2024 and ends at 6 am on Sunday 18th August 2024.”
The strike happened after unidentified people vandalised the crime scene of RG Kar Medical College, while a peaceful protest was ongoing IMA further stated “The RG Kar incident has brought to the fore the two dimensions of violence in the hospital: a crime of barbaric scale due to the lack of safe spaces for women and the hooliganism that is unleashed due to the lack of an organised security protocol. Today both the medical fraternity and the nation are victims.”
The junior doctors in Kolkata, however, have been protesting for almost 38 days now, and refusing to go back to their work until their demands are met by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
What Demands Have Been Met?
On the evening of 16th September, 42 protesting doctors met with the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at her residence for a meeting that lasted around six hours, according to a Business Standard report.
Earlier to this, two meetings had been organised with CM Banerjee, however, they failed the CM and the doctors could not come to a consensus about the live-streaming or videographing of the proceedings. The doctors wanted the meeting to be live-streamed and the video given to the doctors afterwards, however, the CM denied this.
On 16th September, the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front and Resident Doctors’ Association held a press conference where they laid out their demands.
Here we take a look at which out of the 5 demands, according to an ANI report, listed by the organisation have been met and which have not.
1. Removal of Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal as well as the Deputy Commissioner of Police of North and Central for administrative failure and alleged evidence tampering.
This demand has been met with the current Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal and Deputy Commissioner of the North Division, Abhishek Gupta both having been removed from their position and transferred elsewhere.
Banerjee speaking with the media after the meeting said, “In view of the demand of junior doctors, Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Kumar Goyal said in the meeting that he is ready to resign. At 4 pm, Vineet will hand over the responsibility to the new CP”.
Manoj Kumar Verma is now the new Kolkata Police Commissioner. Meanwhile, Goyal has been transferred to the post of Additional Director General (ADG) and Inspector General of Police (IGP) of West Bengal Police’s Special Task Force (STF).
2. Removal of the Director of Medical Education (DME), the Director of Health Services (DHS), and the Health Secretary from the Department of Health and Family Welfare of the West Bengal Government.
As per reports, the West Bengal CM has also agreed to transfer the Director of Medical Education (DME), Kaustav Naik, and the Director of Health Services (DHS), Debashis Halder to appropriate positions.
Banerjee commenting on this reportedly said, “We are not dishonouring them. They haven’t been in their posts for long and have done nothing wrong. However, since the students expressed a lack of trust in them, we have accepted their removal.”
However, the Health Secretary has still not been removed from their post.
Read More: Are Medical Students In India Suffering From A Mental Health Crisis?
3. The Association demanded proper security and basic functional amenities in all hospitals and government healthcare centres to ensure proper safety and protection of junior doctors and all healthcare workers.
Reports claim that Banerjee has confirmed that a committee led by the chief secretary will handle issues related to the health sector’s infrastructure. Along with this, a detailed review of existing facilities will be created so that such incidents can be prevented in the future.
A Moneycontrol report also stated that the CM has agreed to “Rs. 100 crore in funding to improve hospital infrastructure and the creation of a special task force for enhancing hospital security.”
The two demands that haven’t been met yet still are the following:
4. Formation of an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) for the proper management of cases under POSH 2013 in every hospital and health centre.
5. Legal status for all Resident Doctors’ Association (RDA) bodies in every medical college, to conduct student union elections and dissolution of non-elected student units.
Mamata Banerjee speaking with the media said, “We tried listening to the junior doctors… we have decided to change the DC (Kolkata Police Commissioner)… he agreed to resign himself.
In the health department, they demanded the removal of three persons, and we agreed on two. We have agreed to 99% of their demands, what else can we do? We have requested the junior doctors to return to work so that the common citizens won’t suffer.”
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: Business Standard, India Today, BBC
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This post is tagged under: Mamata Banerjee, junior doctors, junior doctors kolkata, union doctors kolkata protest, Mamata Banerjee protest, Mamata Banerjee doctors, doctors protest, doctors, doctors strike, kolkata, Kolkata doctor, Kolkata doctor case, Kolkata doctor rape, Kolkata doctor rape-murder, Kolkata hospital rape murder case, Kolkata medical college, kolkata police, murder, murder rape kolkata, rape, RG Kar Hospital, RG Kar Hospital kolkata, RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, West Bengal
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