Junior doctors at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital at Shyambazar in north Kolkata who have been on a strike for nearly a fortnight refused to call off their agitation after a meeting with elected representatives and senior doctors of the hospital on Sunday.
The junior doctors have been demanding the removal of the principal of the medical college.
“Students from first year, interns and postgraduate trainees have joined the movement. We cannot take any decision without speaking to all. We are going ahead with the movement for now,” a doctor said on Sunday evening after the meeting.
On Sunday, a few junior doctors met Trinamul MLAs Atin Ghosh, Tapas Ray and Nirmal Majhi and Trinamul MP Santanu Sen.
Five doctors of the hospital, who are members of a mentor group set up to end the impasse, attended the meeting.
“We have urged the students and junior doctors to return to work. All their demands have been met barring the removal of the principal. We have assured them that no repressive action will be taken against those who took part in the movement,” said Jyotirmoy Pal, a member of the mentor group and a senior doctor at the hospital.
“We told them that they can come back to us if they feel any injustice has been done to them. The mentor group can directly raise their demands with the director of medical education if we feel their complaints are justified,” Pal said.
The strike inconvenienced several patients. A man who suffered a road accident at Burdwan had to go back from the hospital without any treatment.
“We were asked to take the patient to some other hospital as there are very few doctors here,” said a man who was accompanying the injured.