Sunday, 19 January 2025
Sunday, 19 January 2025
The RG Kar protests that had crippled state health care in Bengal and grabbed global attention are set to resume after a pause.
Junior doctors in Kolkata are preparing to restart their protests over the rape and murder of the postgraduate trainee at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9 and what the junior doctors call pervasive corruption and threat culture in medical education in the state.
When the postgraduate and undergraduate exams for doctors began, the protests seemed to have fizzled out.
Recent development in RG Kar cases
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is investigating both the rape and murder and the corruption cases at RG Kar, recently filed a chargesheet regarding financial irregularities at the state-run medical college.
Dr Sandip Ghosh, former principal of RG Kar, has been named prime accused in the corruption case. He has also been arrested in connection with the alleged conspiracy behind the rape and murder.
However, the court has not accepted the corruption case chargesheet due to the lack of approval from the Bengal government, which is required for prosecuting state employees.
Junior doctors criticised what they called the lack of progress in the investigations and said their demands for justice remain unfulfilled.
“Our movement was always on,” said Agnidipa Mukherjee, a second-year postgraduate trainee at Calcutta Medical College and Hospital.
There is a meeting of junior doctors on Wednesday at which they will decide their course of action, she said.
“We had our exams, but the protest was always on. From of our list of 10 demands, most of it has not been accepted. The most important of the demands was justice for Abhaya [one of the names given to the RG Kar victim] which has not been served till now.
“We do not even know what happened to her. The construction work ,” Mukherjee said.
On the clean-up of the medical system, she said, “There was just an eyewash with a few transfers but our demands were not met. Only Sanjay Roy’s [an ex-civic volunteer with the Kolkata Police who is the prime accused in the rape and murder] name is out till now, nobody else we are getting to know as of now, which is definitely not the case.”
The junior doctors will hold a media briefing on Wednesday to outline plans for the upcoming protests, with dates and times expected to be announced.
“We have called for a press conference at 7 pm at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital,” said Dr Sayan Mandal, an intern at Midnapore Medical College. We are discussing how to proceed with the movement. The postgraduate exams are ongoing and they will end by December end, post which the third-year MBBS students have their exams in January. That is why we are deciding as to how to proceed further with the movement. In the press meet we will announce how we will proceed. The dates and time of the protests will be declared once they are finalised.”
Doctors claimed that despite the Bengal government’s assurances to the Supreme Court, the upgrade of facilities at RG Kar medical College and Hospital “is far from finished, and safety measures like CCTV installations have only been partially implemented”.
Subhayan Mandal, an MBBS student at Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital, said: “The CCTV installations have been done in our college and the construction work is going on. Our demands have not been met. We were told that prior to March it is not possible to hold elections, the trial for justice is still ongoing. I have my exams in January but still I will take part in the protests in December.”
