Sunday, 20 October 2024
Sunday, 20 October 2024
Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday sent chief secretary Manoj Pant, home secretary Nandini Chakravarty and deputy commissioner of police (central) Indira Mukhopadhyay to the protest site in Calcutta and invited over phone the junior doctors on hunger strike for a meeting on Monday, but the medics remained “not at all satisfied”.
Even as the doctors on hunger strike addressed the media after the officials left, some protesting doctors spoke to The Telegraph Online and their tone and tenor was the same as their colleagues who have not eaten for days – combative.
The government has not taken their demands seriously enough, was the refrain.
“This protest will continue, we are not at all satisfied with the meeting with the CM and chief secretary,” Soham Paul, 27, a junior doctor at Midnapore Medical College, told The Telegraph Online.
“We wanted to sit with the CM for a meeting as soon as possible but she clearly told us it is not possible before 5pm on Monday. Every hour the health of doctors on hunger strike is deteriorating. We are fighting for the betterment of society and we have to face this.”
The junior doctors argued that the state government has failed to act decisively and that the promises made during their previous 42-day strike remain unfulfilled.
The demands of the junior doctors include the removal of health secretary N.S. Nigam, establishing a centralised referral system in hospitals, and implementing safety measures like CCTV cameras and adequate on-call rooms in all government healthcare hubs.
“Ei meeting ta meeting er moto toh kichui holo na [This was not even a meeting],” Parvej Biswas, 28, a second-year postgraduate student at Midnapore Medical College, told The Telegraph Online.
“The chief secretary just told us whatever he wanted to say, and did not listen to us even after requesting. We even requested the CM to call the meeting as early as possible but even she did not pay heed.
“We are hopeful for Monday’s meeting as of now and we look forward to a fruitful meeting and hope it is not further postponed,” Biswas added.
“I don't want my colleagues to sit on hunger strike again. In my college the construction work for restrooms and washrooms are going on but it is definitely not 90 per cent of the work that is done as the government has claimed — 70 per cent of the work is pending. We have full evidence of that; it will not be completed by October 31.”
The doctors feel that the government’s failure to address their demands is prolonging an already dire situation with their colleagues’ health deteriorating with every passing hour without food.
“It has been so many days that my seniors have not eaten and are sitting on hunger strike at Esplanade. They were pressing and requesting so hard and today the government showed up so late,” Dr Anudrita Baral, a 2024 pass-out of RG Kar Medical College & Hospital, told The Telegraph Online.
“The government is supposed to be of the people, for the people and by the people. I am still hopeful but I am feeling bad for my seniors who are going to CCU one by one. God is omnipresent, then why this statement that the protest cannot continue amid festivities? I do not understand.
“In a city where a living person is suffering, how can dancing infront of an idol be justified? CCTVs have been installed in my college, construction work has started, but 90 per cent of the work is not done,” Baral added.
Support for the junior doctors has been growing. Theatre personalities and civil society members have joined the protest by holding symbolic hunger strikes. Despite the public backing and deteriorating health of the fasting doctors, the government’s response has been seen as slow and inadequate.
The junior doctors also iterated their warning that if Monday’s meeting does not result in substantial action they will be forced to call for a statewide strike starting October 22.
