Junior doctors lift cease work after meeting with seniors

The cease work of junior doctors at Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital (CNMCH) that started on Wednesday noon after some junior doctors were manhandled by the relatives of a patient died of alleged negligence, was finally lifted on Thursday evening.

The interns and junior doctors who took part in the movement finally listened to the appeal of the senior authorities of the CNMCH. The cease work that lasted for more than 24 hours affected the health services in the hospitals as many patients were transferred to other hospitals.

Tension broke out at the CNMCH after some doctors were beaten up by the relatives of a patient, Md Kamaluddin (60) who died at the hospital on Wednesday afternoon, soon after he was shifted to ITU. His family members alleged that the patient had died after being administered a wrong injection. Following the incident, a mob went on a rampage ransacking a portion of the Rammohan block of the hospital and beat up the doctors. Some of the doctors were injured in the incident.

The doctors staged a sit in demonstration to protest against the hospital campus, demanding the security of doctors in the hospital. The junior doctors started the cease work, demanding adequate security arrangements for them in the hospital.

They also threatened to continue the strike if action was not taken against the accused who led the attack. Some other junior doctors from the SSKM Hospital also joined the protest movement.

The senior officials of the CNMCH urged the agitating doctors to sit in a meeting on late Wednesday night but the junior doctors remained stick to their decision of continuing their cease work. But on Thursday following a tremendous pressure from various quarters and the assurances by the CNMCH authorities that their demands would be looked into with utmost sincerity, the junior doctors called off the strike. In the tripartite meeting held between the students representatives, hospital authorities and the senior police officers in which the junior doctors were given assurance that enough security arrangements would be done for the doctors in the hospital.

The junior doctors said to the hospital authorities that they were feeling insecure especially after the series of incidents that had taken place in various other medical colleges and hospitals. They have also demanded for the repair works of CCTV cameras in the premises, most of which do not work.

In the wake of these incidents the doctors demanded adequate deployment of police personnel inside the hospital campus. They also placed their demands that more than two relatives of the patients should not be given access to the patient at a time. Meanwhile, the police have started a probe into the incident and arrested two persons.