The BJP on Saturday urged junior doctors to end their ongoing cease-work and resume delivery of healthcare services, echoing the requests made by the Supreme Court and the state government earlier.

Jagannath Chattopadhyay, a BJP state general secretary made the request before adding that such a move by the junior doctors would help them gain more sympathy from the public.

“We want to request the junior doctors to follow what the Supreme Court had said earlier. As you know, 24x7 delivery of healthcare services at medical college hospitals depends on your service. Please, gradually resume your duties,” Chattopadhyay told a news conference at the state BJP office when told about reports of how the long stir resulted in inconvenience for patients and deaths.

Although the senior BJP leader urged the doctors to return to work, he also suggested that they could continue a relay protest for two hours daily, in addition to serving the public.

“Please protest after duty hours. This will help you gain more sympathy from the public. The sensible people of Bengal and the civil society will join your protest and run it,” he added.

Junior doctors of medical colleges, especially in Calcutta, are continuing their protest, demanding justice for a postgraduate trainee, who was raped and murdered inside the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9.

Since the incident, the state government requested the junior doctors several times to return to duty.

Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, during the hearing of the suo-motu case of the RG Kar brutality, also urged the doctors to return to work, considering the needs of the poor and ailing people, who depend on treatment at government establishments.

The BJP’s request to junior doctors to resume work assumes significance ahead of the Supreme Court hearing on Monday, said a political observer.

According to him, the BJP, which wants public protests to continue to put pressure on the Mamata Banerjee government, understands that the continued disruption of treatment to a large number of people would allow the Trinamool Congress to create counter-narratives.

“The doctors should understand that causing suffering to the poor and common will not help them gain sympathy. It is a fact that essential health services have been disrupted due to their protests, even in the districts. The TMC has left no stone unturned to make negligence in treatment an issue,” said a senior BJP leader.

“A delay in resuming work by the junior doctors would anger the poor, who depend on the government healthcare system, against the doctors,” he added.

It is a fact that thousands of people from remote areas have been denied proper treatment at hospitals in the past 28 days since the protest began. The Telegraph reported on the plight of common patients, including the deaths of several people, as a result of the junior doctors’ cease-work protest.

Last week, the health department claimed that at least seven people, including a newborn girl, died after failing to receive treatment at government hospitals affected by the junior doctors’ strike.

Following pressure from various quarters to resume work, the doctors launched an initiative called Abhaya Clinic, a medical camp outside hospital premises, offering consultations to patients on September 1. However, multiple sources said this initiative was insufficient to serve the thousands of people, who depend on government-run healthcare facilities.

Abhishek Banerjee, the TMC’s national general secretary on Friday night urged the junior doctors not to disrupt the health service claiming that a youth from Hooghly’s Konnagar, injured in a road mishap, died without receiving medical attention for three hours at RG Kar. The family members of the youth had criticised the doctors for not providing treatment. However, the hospital authority denied such an allegation.

A source said the state government is likely to flag the issue of the protesting doctors in the Supreme Court during the hearing, scheduled on Monday.

Unlike the BJP’s clear message to the doctors to return to work, the CPM leadership gave a roundabout answer when asked to comment on the issue of cease-work by doctors and its impact on healthcare services.

“The senior doctors have been providing service at those hospitals and the junior doctors have already opened Abhaya Clinic. It is the duty of the health department to ensure that the junior doctors dispense services,” said CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty.