Chief Minister to meet NRS delegation to resolve impasse

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has convened a meeting with the representatives of the agitating doctors of NRS Medical College and Hospital at Nabanna on Saturday late afternoon in an effort to resolve the impasse at the hospitals across the state. The development took place after a team of five senior doctors held a marathon meeting with Banerjee at the state Secretariat on Friday evening.

"We want a smooth solution and want this deadlock to end. The doctors should feel safe at work and at the same time, the patients who are affected because of the cease-work should also receive treatment. We will be again coming at 5 pm at Nabanna on Saturday and the agitating doctors have been asked to come too. The message has already been sent to the doctors and they have been informed of the measures taken by the government for their safety and security," said doctor Sukumar Mukherjee who led a team of senior doctors including Dr Plaban Mukherjee, Dr Alokendu Ghosh, Dr Abhijit Chowdhury and Dr Makhanlal Saha at Nabanna.

"We are playing the role of mediators. We want to resume dialogue so that the doctors' grievances may be addressed and normal services can resume at the hospitals," said Dr Abhijit Chowdhury.

The team informed that the government has taken strong action against the persons involved in the assault and all of them have been denied bail.

Sources in Nabanna said the Chief Minister had called a representative of the agitators on Friday itself. Director of Medical Education Pradip Mitra went to NRS in the evening and asked the doctors to come to Nabanna for the meeting. However, the doctors could not arrive at a consensus about whether they should go or stick to their demand that the Chief Minister should come and meet them at NRS itself.

Meanwhile, the Calcutta High Court on Friday refused to pass any interim order on the strike by junior doctors at state-run hospitals in protest against the attack on two of their colleagues by family members of a patient.

A division Bench comprising Chief Justice TBN Radhakrishnan and Justice Suvra Ghosh asked the state government to persuade the striking doctors to resume work and provide usual services to patients. The Bench fixed June 21 for further hearing of the petition.

Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi paid a visit to the injured intern Paribaha Mukhopadhyay who has been undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Mullick Bazar. "I have tried to contact the Chief Minister and have asked her to come to Raj Bhavan," Tripathi told reporters after paying a visit at the private hospital. Continued on P7