Kolkata: Hospital services across West Bengal were disrupted Monday as junior doctors, interns, and postgraduate trainees continued their strike for the fourth consecutive day, protesting the rape and murder of a woman doctor and demanding a magisterial inquiry into her death.
Over the past three days, junior doctors had been attending to emergency duties, but as of Monday morning, they have ceased even those responsibilities, sources said.
“We want an impartial investigation into the murder of our colleague, either by the CBI or a sitting magistrate. We are dissatisfied with the current police investigation and will continue our protest until justice is served and the state ensures foolproof security for all doctors and healthcare workers,” said a protesting junior doctor from Kolkata-based RG Kar Medical College & Hospital, where the incident took place.
Meanwhile, the principal of the Medical College, Dr Sandip Ghosh, Monday resigned, appealing to the protesting medical students and house staff to withdraw their demonstrations.
The medical students and house staff had been demanding Ghosh’s resignation on moral grounds over the alleged rape and murder of the woman house staff and second-year post-graduate student of the medical college & hospital last week.
While announcing his resignation, Ghosh appealed to the protesting medical students and house staff to withdraw their demonstrations, cease work and resume normal operations at the hospital premises.
“My resignation was the desire of the students. In fact, the entire state was demanding my resignation. I hope that the medical students and junior doctors will now resume their normal operations. For the last few days, my family and I have been subjected to various adverse comments. So I decided to resign,” said Ghosh Monday morning.
He claimed that he had been a victim of a political conspiracy drafted by his rival group. “I had never been a part of any kind of political game. As a government servant, I will perform my duty till the end,” Ghosh said.
However, the protesters are adamant about continuing with their agitation until their demands are met. According to them, a mere verbal announcement of the resignation by the principal will not suffice and he will have to tender the same in writing.
“The resignation of the principal was just one of our demands, already the Resident Doctors’ Association has released their four-point demand in the matter and we will continue with our agitation and cease work till our demands are fulfilled,” said a protesting house staff of the hospital.
The protesting doctors also said that they still believe that the alleged rape and murder of the victim was not the handiwork of one individual and there were associates in that crime.
The body of the woman post-graduate trainee was found inside a seminar hall of the hospital Friday morning. A civic volunteer was arrested Saturday in connection with the crime.
To tackle the state-wide protests, the West Bengal government has cancelled the leave of all senior doctors to manage the situation.
“Our senior doctors are on duty, and we hope they will handle the patient influx. They have been instructed to work until the situation stabilises,” an official told PTI.
On Mondays, the outpatient departments of state government hospitals experience a large volume of patients.
Support for the agitating doctors has been pouring in from various parts of the country. The Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association of India (FORDA) has endorsed the strike and called for a nationwide halt of elective services Monday, informing the Union Health Ministry of their decision.
The West Bengal Doctors Forum has also appealed to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for an impartial inquiry committee to investigate the rape and murder of the doctor. Additionally, they have demanded increased security for doctors and health workers across the state and capital punishment for the perpetrator.
Agencies