West Bengal witnessed an ‘unprecedented’ day of protests centered around the rape and murder of a female intern doctor at R.G. Kar Medical College Hospital in Kolkata.
Junior doctors protesting for justice and other demands returned from the entrance of Nabanna, the state government secretariat, yesterday Thursday.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was waiting inside Nabanna for a meeting with the junior doctors. But the junior doctors remained firm on their conditions. They stood outside Nabanna for nearly two hours. Eventually, the meeting did not take place. The junior doctors returned from in front of Nabanna. This was the first time such an incident occurred during Mamata’s rule, as witnessed by the people of West Bengal.
Later, the Chief Minister told journalists that she had sat for more than two hours waiting for the meeting with the doctors. But the meeting didn’t happen. She is willing to resign. But some people don’t want justice. They want the chair of power. There’s a political conspiracy behind the protests.
Mamata further said,
‘If everything can be resolved by my resignation, then I have no problem resigning.’
But will the Chief Minister really resign? This question is now swirling in the minds of the state’s residents.
However, why didn’t the meeting between the junior doctors and the Chief Minister take place yesterday? The main reason was a disagreement over the live broadcast of the meeting.
The junior doctors demanded that the meeting with the Chief Minister be broadcast live. But the Chief Minister didn’t agree to this demand. Her stance was that she’s willing to have the meeting, but not willing to have it broadcast live. This is where the problem arose.
On August 9, a female intern doctor was raped and murdered at R.G. Kar Medical College Hospital in Kolkata. This incident sparked protests across West Bengal and all of India. Doctors in West Bengal continue to protest demanding a fair investigation of the incident. As a result of the protests, the state’s health services are on the verge of collapse.
Since Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of junior doctors from 26 medical colleges have been staging a sit-in outside the state health building with 5-point demands. Their demand is that no matter how much the Supreme Court tells them to return to work, they won’t join work until they get security.
Last Monday, when the case came up in the Supreme Court, the state government’s lawyer informed that 23 patients had died in the state due to the doctors’ month-long protest. Without hearing the other side, the country’s top court ordered everyone to return to work by 5 PM on Tuesday. This sparked outrage among the state’s doctors. Junior doctors staged a sit-in in front of the health building with five-point demands. Senior doctors stood by their side.
Senior doctors are saying that as long as the juniors’ demands are not met, they will continue to support this movement. If the state government takes any harsh steps, the outpatient departments of all government hospitals in West Bengal will be closed. Only emergency departments will remain open.
Yesterday, protesting junior doctors received an email from Nabanna regarding a meeting with the Chief Minister. The doctors replied via email that they would attend the meeting. Representatives of 30 junior doctors from 26 medical colleges would be present at the meeting. The entire meeting should be broadcast live so that the people of the state can know what’s being discussed inside.
But Nabanna said that only 15 representatives could come to the meeting. There would be no live broadcast of the meeting.
After this, the doctors stated that they want to have a transparent meeting. And the Chief Minister herself has shown the way for this live broadcast. If the Chief Minister can broadcast administrative meetings live, publicly scold ministers and bureaucrats, if High Court and Supreme Court hearings can be live, then why can’t a meeting with Mamata be broadcast live? They believe this live broadcast is the path to transparency.
While the administration agreed on the matter of 30 representatives, they didn’t inform for the second time whether the meeting would be broadcast live or not. Later, cars were sent from the administration. But the doctors didn’t accept those cars. Instead, they went to the front of Nabanna in their own bus.
At one point, the administration informed that the Chief Minister did not give permission to broadcast the meeting live. This made the junior doctors adamant. They stood outside Nabanna for a solid two hours.
The Chief Minister was inside Nabanna, while the doctors were outside. The Chief Secretary and other administrative officials started shuttling back and forth. They would go to the Chief Minister once, then come back to try to convince the doctors. But in the end, the doctors left without having the meeting.
Later, the Chief Minister came on live broadcast alone. She told journalists that some things just can’t be broadcast live, and that couldn’t be explained to the doctors.
It was believed that if this meeting had taken place, peace would have largely returned to the state. The meeting fell through due to the tug-of-war over conditions.
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