Junior docs may resume sit-in protest, start ‘hunger strike’ over 10-point demand

Kolkata: The agitating junior doctors may again start a sit-in demonstration in the city similar to that of Swasthya Bhawan to meet their 10-point demands. They may also undertake hunger strike till the demands are met.

However, the final decision about calling off the cease work will be taken at the general body meeting which was going on till midnight.

Junior doctors from various medical colleges in the city, including RG Kar Medical College, Calcutta Medical College and Calcutta National Medical College held a meeting with the senior doctors earlier in the day to chalk out plans for the next course of the movement.

Senior doctors during the meeting have urged the junior doctors to reconsider their decision to resume cease work from last Tuesday.

No decision, however, came out till late evening.

A section of senior doctors said that protests can be continued but without hampering health services in government hospitals.

The protest may continue without affecting health services, sources said.

A section of senior doctors think that the strike should be withdrawn immediately.

It was learnt that the senior doctors at Thursday’s meeting urged the junior doctors to call off the cease work which resumed on Tuesday.The senior doctors pointed out that carrying out strikes by the junior doctors will affect the health services in hospitals ahead of Puja.

The senior doctors tried to convince the junior doctors that there would be an adverse effect on society if the junior doctors again continued strike, sources said.

The senior doctors also advised the juniors to carry out a token protest which will not hamper health services. The protest can be undertaken without affecting the health services.

Meanwhile, a PIL has been filed at the Calcutta High Court against the junior doctors’ strike. The petitioner claimed that junior doctors’ decision to resume cease work violated the Supreme Court’s directives.

In another development, senior doctors from NRS Medical College will hold a token cease work protest at this hospital from 9-10 am supporting the junior doctors’ demand.

“The junior doctors’ protest can continue but it should not hamper services in hospitals as the patients will be in difficulties in the festive season. Patients are getting affected. MD examinations are also scheduled to take place in December and MBBS in January next year. The junior doctors should find a middle path,” a senior doctor from a government hospital in Kolkata said.

Junior doctors again started their cease work accusing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) of slow investigation and they also alleged that the state government has not fulfilled all their demands. The junior doctors who had called off their strike on September 19 after a hiatus of 42 days following a series of meetings with Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged that the state government hadn’t fulfilled their promises and hence they were going back to cease work.

Incidentally, the junior doctors’ counsel during the last hearing claimed on Monday at the Supreme Court that the doctors were performing all duties including IPD and OPD.

The council said that essential services include IPD and OPD. In reality, the junior doctors were not allegedly providing services at IPDs and OPDs and they had also announced it while resuming work after a hiatus of 42 days.

The Chief Justice’s Bench recorded the doctors’ counsel’s statement that all junior doctors are performing and shall perform essential services, including IPD and OPD. The State government has already fulfilled almost all the demands of the junior doctors and also decided to constitute a state-level grievance redressal committee of seven doctors to address the complaints of all the stakeholders related to the health care services in the state.

CCTVs are being installed as the junior doctors have demanded.