Bengal doctors threaten to resume stir from Monday

Junior doctors in West Bengal on Saturday threatened to resume their protests from Monday after a hearing of the RG Kar case in the Supreme Court on Monday. The doctors, who held a 41-day cease work protest over the brutal rape and murder of a trainee doctors at the RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata last month, renewed the threat after a mob attack on medics at a state-run hospital on Friday evening.
“We are giving an ultimatum to the state government. If the government fails to take any positive measures to strengthen security in hospitals and gear up hospital infrastructure, we will go on a full-fledged strike again from Monday,” Aniket Mahata, a junior doctor, said late on Saturday night.
The announcement came after a mob attacked junior doctors and nurses at the Sagore Dutta Hospital in North 24 Parganas on Friday evening after a woman, who was rushed to the hospital with severe respiratory problems, died during treatment. Family members of the woman assaulted junior doctors and nurses of the hospital alleging that she died because of negligence.
While a few doctors and nurses were injured, police arrested four persons in connection with the attack, even as junior doctors at the hospital began a cease work on Friday itself.
Following a meeting of the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front (WBJDF) on Saturday, Mahata said, “The Supreme Court will hear the RG Kar case on Monday. We are all waiting for that. Our counsel will also tell the court how the state government has failed to build confidence among junior doctors by taking some positive steps. We will also see what the state tells the court. If there is no positive response, we will again start our cease work across all state-run hospitals from Monday 5pm.”