Actor and Trinamul MP Dev asked on Twitter on Friday “why those who save lives should be subjected to assault repeatedly”.

The actor voiced his support for protesting doctors but also appealed to them to stand by patients who are helpless without their support.

“Why should those who save our lives be subjected to assault repeatedly? Their security is our responsibility. Simultaneously, lakhs and lakhs of patients are depending on doctors, if you do not stand by them they are helpless. Let everyone’s good sense come back, there has to be a solution to the problem,” the actor-MP’s Twitter post read.

The actor made the post in Bengali at 11.47am on Friday. It was retweeted 286 times in nine hours.

Many applauded Dev for the tweet. One wrote in Bengali: “…we need such an MP and human being”.

Abesh Banerjee, a nephew of chief minister Mamata Banerjee, and Shabba Hakim, daughter of Calcutta mayor and urban development minister Firhad Hakim, have expressed solidarity with the protesting junior doctors.

Abesh is a student of KPC Medical College and Hospital, while Shabba has graduated from the institute.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday night, Shabba had written: “We have a right to peaceful protest. We have a right to safety at work.”

Her father on Friday appealed to the striking doctors to resume work.

Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

Actors Aparna Sen and Koushik Sen address protesting junior doctors at NRS Medical College and Hospital on Friday. The two went to the hospital, where a group assaulted two junior doctors after the death of a patient late on Monday, with a group of social activists.

Aparna said the ceasework by doctors could come to an end if the chief minister came to the hospital and heard them out. “Oder sange katha bolte asubidha kothay (What is preventing you from talking to them)?” Aparna said, referring to the chief minister.

“She is not only the chief minister of the patients. You are also the chief minister of the doctors.... I am saying this humbly, not arrogantly.... The administration is as much responsible for the sufferings of the patients as are the junior doctors. Until the administration can ensure the safety of the doctors, until the administration can improve the infrastructure of the hospitals, until the CCTVs start functioning properly, the life of the doctors will continue to be in danger,” she said.

Koushik, too, urged the government to improve the health-care infrastructure. “If you (the government) don’t focus on improving the infrastructure, if we don’t pay attention to this and instead keep giving donations to clubs, keep organising fares, sports, prize distribution programmes and waste the resources. Why don’t you spend the amount on health services?” he said.

Addressing the junior doctors, he said: “You will surely admit you are coming under pressure form a large section of society. It is the pressure of humanity. How long can you continue without treating patients? We cannot go on without you. The administration somehow has to understand it is a major crisis.... We cannot impose any decision from outside. Only you can decide how, through a balancing act, you can continue the protest while reducing the inconvenience caused to the patients.”