Saturday, 19 October 2024
Saturday, 19 October 2024
The junior doctors on hunger strike at Esplanade in the heart of Calcutta have put up a clay pot, which they call Durnitir Handi (pot of corruption), where people can submit their complaints against the Bengal government.
The hunger strike by the junior doctors of Bengal completes 14 days on Friday. As of now Seven doctors remain on hunger strike at Dorina Crossing, protesting the brutal rape and murder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
The rest of them are at the hospital.
Dr Aniket Mahato, was admitted to the CCU of RG Kar, was discharged on Thursday. Three other doctors, Dr Tanaya Panja, Dr Anustup Mukherjee and Dr Pulastya Acharya, remain in the CCU and are still in critical condition.
And the doctors are still steadfast on their 10-point demands to clean up the rot in Bengal’s public healthcare system.
“We are still hopeful that the government will take necessary steps to improve the condition,” Prithwish Sarkar, 28, a postgraduate student at Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, told The Telegraph Online.
“This is a very depressing moment for all of us as our seniors have gone without eating for the last 13 days. We will negotiate for all the 10 demands with the government soon. The Dunitir Handi is symbolic, as we have seen so many common people come forward to support us. We believe they have also faced corruption in their personal lives, hence this is a platform where they can submit their grievances, hoping this corruption will end someday.”
Sarkar said that though the Bengal government has told the Supreme Court that all the work for security at hospitals will be completed by October 31, “in my college things are not up to the mark; it has been said that 90 per cent of the work is done but in reality it is unlikely that the work will be completed by October 31, given the pace”.
Despite all this, the doctors’ protest continues to draw people.
At any given point, the protest site includes senior residents, students working women, all showing solidarity with the doctors by fasting from 9am to 9pm. People from various walks of life have been seen at the site.
“I feel whatever the doctors are doing is great, they are here day after day and it is not good. I am also a woman, I go out to work and I do not feel safe, after RG Kar I feel unsafe whenever I step out of my house. My students feel the same, they tell me that they do not feel safe either,” Debalina Medda, 29, mathematics professor at iLead College Calcutta, told The Telegraph Online.
Sudarshan Basu, 70, from Chinsurah, told The Telegraph Online that he believed in the doctors’ cause.
“Our doctors give their lives to their work, their demands are fully valid and should have been done much before. I am sitting on hunger strike today from 9am to 9pm to press for those demands. I am a writer, I mostly write on society and justice. The government is responsible towards the society. What is the difference between the BJP and the TMC? The people of Bengal have given anti-BJP votes to them [Trinamul] and brought them to power and they are doing the same thing which the BJP is doing. This is not right,” Basu said.
The Bengal government has scheduled a meeting on Friday to review ongoing measures to improve security at medical colleges and hospitals following the Supreme Court's directives. The heads of all state-run medical institutions have been instructed to attend the meeting, which will be chaired by chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
“Today day 14 will also end, even after so many days there is no action from the government’s side,” said A. Sadhu, 24, an intern at Calcutta Medical College and Hospital. “During Covid times, we have witnessed the government taking quick actions due to emergencies. Why is it taking so much time now I do not understand. In my college work is going on after the pressure, but it is extremely slow. If we stop this movement it will go back to square once again; hence, we will continue this protest.”
