The junior doctors on Wednesday evening remained firm on the conditions they have set for a dialogue, including the presence of the chief minister in the talks, although the government has said no terms can be set in advance.
At a news conference late at night, the junior doctors said they were waiting for a response from the government when asked if they would again write to the state. “We will not budge from the conditions,” a junior doctor said.
The doctors, who are on a cease-work since August 9 to protest the rape and murder of the 31-year-old postgraduate trainee at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, denied junior health minister Chandrima Bhattacharya’s claim that there was politics involved in the protests.
The doctors said the protests were devoid of any political colour and none from any party, like the CPM, BJP or the Congress, had been allowed to join the agitation.
The junior doctors were also unyielding about having a larger delegation visit Nabanna for the meeting than what the state government was agreeing to. There are 26 medical colleges in Bengal and at least one representative from each of these institutions must be allowed, said a junior doctor.
She denied the claim by the state government that patient services had been impacted. “There are 93,000 doctors across the state and only 7,000 of them are junior doctors,” she said.
The conditions put forward by the junior doctors are:
◉ At least 30 representatives should be allowed in the meeting
◉ The meeting should be telecast live for the “sake of transparency”
◉ The meeting should be “based around” the five demands raised by the protesting doctors
◉ The discussion should be held in the presence of the chief minister
Responding to Bhattacharya’s comment that the email sent by the junior doctors to the government at 3.45am in response to the offer for talks smacked of politics, a junior doctor said the timing was in view of the “emergency” situation.
“We sent the email because we felt it was an emergency. We are not doing any politics,” he said.
During the news conference at Nabanna in the evening, Bhattacharya criticised the imposition of the conditions.
In an email to the protesting doctors in the afternoon, the chief secretary had agreed to admit 12 to 15 representatives of junior doctors to the meeting, but the doctors are insisting on a larger delegation.
“There are 26 medical colleges in the state. At least one person from each of the colleges has to go. We are not a political party that a delegation of 10 or four or two members would go and a deal will be struck in a closed-door meeting. We are looking for a solution,” said Kinjal Nanda, one of the junior doctors.
“We are protesting on the road and we are disappointed. She (Bhattacharya) is disappointed sitting in an air-conditioned room,” said a junior doctor.
Bhattacharya said during the news conference at Nabanna that the junior doctors did not have an open mind. “If you want discussions with an open mind, it cannot be done by imposing conditions,” she said.
A junior doctor retorted at the protest site in Salt Lake: “We also have an open mind and so we want the discussions to be held openly.”
After the meeting between the chief minister and the protesting doctors did not happen on Tuesday, they continued to squat on the road outside Swasthya Bhavan where they have been camping since afternoon.
“We will be staying on the road till the state government meets our demands,” said one of the junior doctors.
The junior doctors are demanding the identification of “all culprits” and their arrest along with a clear word on the motive of the crime; the resignation of Kolkata Police commissioner Vineet Goyal; disciplinary action against former RG Kar principal Sandip Ghosh; ensuring the safety of doctors and all healthcare workers; an end to the “reign of fear” at medical colleges; and the resignation of the health secretary, director of medical education and the director of health services.