Junior doctors in Kolkata have gone on hunger strike to protest against an alleged rape and murder of a 31-year-old physician in West Bengal’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9. The protest started on 5 th of October at Dharmatala by the WB Junior Doctors Front, wherein the health workers demanded understanding that the led Mamta Banerjee government must understand the necessity of implementing the measures to secure the lives of the medical professionals, among other things.
Dr. Aqeeb, speaking on behalf of the protesting doctors, said that as much as there are many problems affecting medical colleges across the state, their main focus is to seek justice for the victim. He stood for their demands as reasonable and would not consider them as wrong. “Much of what the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has done in the RG Kar case could be characterized as lethargic. We even hope for fast verdicts on this issue,” he said. Dr. Aqeeb also stressed the need to have students be able to form part of any committee that is formed within the medical colleges so that elected students could ask for improvements in health by putting forward reforms that would be capable of being implemented across the country for the benefit of everybody.
The group of six doctors on hunger strike has clearly declared that the hunger strike would not be called off until the demands were met. They have said that the TMC government should be made responsible for the life of any doctor in the state during this period of uprising. Protesting doctors, namely Snigdha Hazra, Tanaya Panja, Anustup Mukhopadhyay from Kolkata Medical College and Hospital, Arnab Mukhopadhyay from SSKM Hospital, Pulastha Acharya from NRS Medical College and Hospital, and Sayantani Ghosh Hazra from KPC Medical College.
One of the protesters found more contentious was the sacking of Health Secretary NS Nigam out of the nine demands they made. Other demands include the coordination center for Statewide hospitals and medical colleges, bed vacancy indicator, and formation of committees to ensure necessary workplace amenities such as CCTV cameras.
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