Several junior doctors and students of the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital staged a protest on the campus on Wednesday, demanding resumption of treatment of non-Covid patients in the hospital along with those suffering from the disease.

The state government had converted the hospital into a designated Covid treatment centre in May. The protesting junior doctors said it had inconvenienced other patients.

The protesters said there were two reasons why they wanted treatment of non-Covid patients to begin. First, many patients, who were undergoing treatment at the hospital, have to visit other hospitals now. Second, since the institute is a medical college, students are being deprived of treating other patients, which is an important part of their learning.

“There are many illnesses that need regular follow-up treatments. Think about the plight of a cancer patient, who used to undergo chemotherapy. But that patient has to go to another government hospital now, which is already overburdened with its own pool of patients,” said a postgraduate trainee doctor at the CMCH.

The Telegraph had on June 23 reported that junior doctors at the CMCH had demanded resumption of treatment of non-Covid patients at the hospital.

A junior doctor said he knew of at least two patients who had died after losing touch with their doctors during the lockdown.

A protesting doctor said on Wednesday they had met senior officials of the state health department and even the minister of state for health, Chandrima Bhattacharya, with their demand.

“We gave a blueprint to everyone how it is possible to run both Covid-19 treatment and non-Covid treatment in the hospital,” said the doctor.

Bhattacharya told Metro in the evening that she had met a group of junior doctors from the hospital but it was not possible for her to commit immediately when non-Covid treatment will resume at the CMCH. “I can say that the government will do something so that treatment of Covid-19 patients is not affected as well as look into the demands of the doctors,” she said.

The junior doctors said they would continue their protest till their demand is met. “We will continue our duty in the hospital and also join the sit-in,” said one doctor.

A student, who joined the protest on Wednesday, said MBBS students, interns, housestaffs, PG trainees, doctorate students and post-doctoral students are supporting the demand.