Divergent voices emerged from meetings held by junior doctors across medical colleges in the city on Thursday on whether to withdraw their cease-work and other forms of protests over the RG Kar rape and murder.
The junior doctors, protesting the rape and murder of a 31-year-old postgraduate trainee on August 9, held a series of meetings on Thursday to decide the course of their movement. The meetings continued till late on Thursday.
At RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, the junior doctors held a meeting with their senior counterparts, including faculty members.
The junior doctors resumed their cease-work last Tuesday, 10 days after rejoining their duty following a 42-day cease-work since August 9.
“The senior doctors have been doing overtime and working day and night to support our cause. They stood in our stead and were in hospitals while we had to take to the streets to seek justice. They are our teachers and we wanted to know their suggestions on how to take this movement forward,” said Aniket Mahato, a postgraduate trainee of anaesthesiology at RG Kar who has emerged as one of the faces of the protest.
“However, we will speak with every medical college and hospital and come to a decision after a meeting,” he said on Thursday afternoon.
Bipresh Chakraborty, a senior resident doctor of gastroenterology at SSKM Hospital, said they feared that the RG Kar rape and murder would fade out from the collective memory of society if they withdrew their movement.
“The CBI probe (into the rape and murder) is still on. We have 10 demands, which have been conveyed to the government but are yet to be addressed. At this point some form of protest must go on, else people will forget this case, like other rapes and killings across the country. The issue of our safety and security at our workplaces has not been addressed. The Supreme Court has said the state government has been tardy (in strengthening the security of doctors at medical colleges),” Chakraborty said.
A junior doctor at Medical College Kolkata, where the meeting lasted several hours, said they had voted on “different forms of protests, including continuation of the complete cease-work”.
“We have had an informal voting session on the different forms of protest, including continuing with the cease-work and lifting it and continuing with other forms of protests,” the junior doctor said.
A junior doctor at RG Kar said they discussed the various options keeping in mind the fact that their counsel at the Supreme Court had put on record that they had resumed duties and were providing all essential services, including those in the inpatient and outpatient departments.
“We have to keep several aspects in mind and all these have been clearly spoken about. However, we can only come to a consensus after a pan-GB (general body) meeting, where representatives of all medical colleges and hospitals will get a chance to speak,” the doctor said.
The Indian Medical Association (National), the biggest body of doctors in the country, has also said that junior doctors should go back to work.
After a rally on Wednesday that was attended by thousands of people, doctors as well as people from other walks of life, the junior doctors had said they were ready to go to Delhi and raise their voice. They also said that if they decided to lift their cease-work, it would be for the troubles being faced by the people.
