Tuesday, 22 October 2024
Tuesday, 22 October 2024
The hunger strike is off, the junior doctors are back at work, but questions remain over how long the temporary truce between the medical community and the Mamata Banerjee government will last.
The 126-minute meeting held on Monday evening at Nabanna, the Bengal state secretariat, left gaping holes that could come back to haunt the Bengal government, which was tumbling in the dark to find a way out.
So were the junior doctors. The cease-work and the 17 day hunger strike have brought them little so far.
The Joint Platform of Doctors, West Bengal has already expressed its unhappiness with the outcome of Monday’s meeting. As have the junior doctors.
The co-conveners of the Joint Platform of Doctors, Punyabrata Gun and Hiralal Konar, raised questions in a joint statement issued after Monday evening’s meeting:
“The ring of corruption and criminalisation that is directly responsible for the brutal murder of the postgraduate trainee and the characters behind the scene responsible for the larger conspiracy continue to be patronised. In such a scenario can the possibility of a repeat of such incidents be ruled out?
“We are deeply frustrated,” the statement said. “The state government did not express any desire to reform the healthcare sector which has collapsed and introduce any fundamental changes. We have been made to understand no steps will be taken to end corruption in the education and recruitment system [of doctors and other healthcare staff]. The state government is not willing to prepare a safe environment for the girl students and female doctors. This will have long term consequences and the responsibility of which will be on the chief minister.”
During Monday’s meeting, chief minister Mamata Banerjee categorically ruled out the demand from the junior doctors for the removal of health secretary Narayan Swarup Nigam and came down heavily on the principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital Manas Bandyopadhyay over the suspension of those from the institution allegedly involved in the “threat culture.”
During the meeting one of the leading protesters, Aniket Mahato, asked the chief minister, “Should we stand with the criminals and rapists?”
Those present at the meeting informed the chief minister the expulsion decision was taken as per the provisions of the National Medical Council.
Mamata made it clear the complaints against the medical students – most of them from the ruling party’s students’ wing – would be handled by the state-level task force in an impartial manner.
The chief minister also admonished the health department officials and the principals and medical superintendent & vice-principal (MSVP) for keeping the government in the dark about the college councils.
“The chief minister has challenged the college councils which were set up according to the directives and their decision-making powers,” said the statement from the Joint Platform of Doctors.
“Thus, the powers of the independent and the autonomous committees have been curbed and all their decisions will have to be approved by the highest authority in the state administration. This is a strategy to keep power centralised and a threat against the NMC-approved college councils.”
Members of the Joint Platform of Doctors feel the chief minister has virtually denied the existence of the “threat culture” rampant in the medical colleges, and in turn threatened those running the medical colleges.
“The chief minister’s comment is a counter threat to those who are trying to end threat culture in the state,” said the statement.
The Joint Platform of Doctors accused the chief minister – citing legal bindings – of batting in favour of those members of the West Bengal Medical Council and the Health Recruitment Board accused of corruption and favouritism.
“It appears that transparency and ethics are not important for her. We had submitted an alternate proposal to the state health department. From the proceedings at the meeting it became clear those were ignored,” said Konar.
Though the state officials at the meeting accepted a file containing complaints against the health secretary Nigam, Mamata had shut down one of the junior doctors, saying no one can be called an accused by raising “unsubstantiated” allegations against him.
One of the junior doctors, Agnibin Kundu, replied that they had the evidence, but Mamata would not listen.
“You can bring papers, but I will also have to investigate whether it is true or not,” the chief minister said.
One of the female representatives then told the CM that an accused is called a convict if proved guilty, and that legally an accused is someone against whom there are accusations.
Reacting to the chief minister’s stand on Nigam, the senior doctors are wondering who will take the blame for the rot in the health system that could be exposed only after a brutal rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor.
“Over the years multiple complaints on acts of omissions and commissions were brought up, many administrative decisions which lacked transparency were brought to the notice of the authorities,” the Joint Platform of Doctors statement said.
“Despite numerous examples of the incompetency of the health department, by keeping the same person at the helm of the health department, we cannot understand who should be held responsible for what has been going on?”
