RG Kar death case: Junior doctors to continue strike

Kolkata: The junior doctors who went to the CGO complex and met some senior officials on Friday to know the current status of the probe into the rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor, refused to withdraw their cease work.

The junior doctors said that they did not receive any information relating to the probe from the CBI officials and hence they would continue their cease work. They said that there would be “no compromise with justice”.

Junior doctors across government medical colleges in Bengal are continuing with their cease-work despite the Supreme Court saying that it expected the doctors to resume work. Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud told the counsel for the protesting doctors during Thursday’s hearing that “justice and medicine cannot go on strike”. The CJI also asked, “how does the public health infrastructure run if doctors do not resume work”.

But the junior doctors said their primary demand, for which they started the

cease-work, was the arrest of all culprits who were involved in the rape and murder of the postgraduate trainee at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

The woman doctor was allegedly raped and murdered in the hospital on August 9. The junior doctors also urged all the government hospitals’ junior doctors to continue their strike until all the accused in connection with the incident are arrested.

The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday said justice and medicine cannot afford to be stopped.

The Apex Court had also pointed out: “There is concern from the doctors’ side, fearing they may face action, with some already being targeted for their involvement in the protest.

We expect compliance with the Court’s assurance that the doctors will return to work. If any action has been or will be taken against protesting doctors, we direct that no coercive measures be enforced. It’s time to get back to work and any past actions related to the protest should not lead to coercive steps.”

Incidentally, after the Supreme Court’s appeal, the resident doctors at Delhi’s AIIMS hospital called off their nearly two-week-long strike against the horrific incident in Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College which shocked the nation.