RG Kar: Talks between WB govt, junior doctors fail to resolve stalemate

Medics says they will continue with their agitation and 'cease work' movement till the government issues written directives on safety of doctors

Kolkata: The second round of talks between junior doctors and officials of the West Bengal government failed to break the medics’ strike over the RG Kar issue, following the State’s refusal to give written minutes of the meeting, the doctors alleged.

After the meeting, the medics announced they will continue with their agitation and ‘cease work‘ movement till the government issues written directives on the safety of doctors in state-run hospitals as agreed in the meeting.

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“While the talks went smoothly, the government refused to hand over signed and written minutes of the issues which were discussed. We are feeling let down and disappointed with the government’s attitude,” Dr Aniket Mahato, one of the agitating doctors, said on Wednesday night.

“We will send an email tomorrow detailing our demands based on which the government has assured it will issue directives. We will continue our agitation and take a call on it if and when those directives are issued,” Mahato said.

The State also refused to accept the doctors’ demand to initiate a departmental inquiry against health secretary NS Nigam in the wake of the alleged rape-murder of an R G Kar hospital PG trainee.

The State capital has been rocked with massive protests ever since the alleged rape and murder of the trainee doctor and subsequent allegations of widespread corruption at government healthcare facilities and arm-twisting of students and trainee doctors, leading to demands for an action against the health secretary.

This was the second round of talks between the medics and the State government in 48 hours. The first round was held with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at her Kalighat residence on Monday. The meeting between the state-level public healthcare task force headed by Chief Secretary Manoj Pant and a delegation of 30 junior doctors started at the State secretariat in Nabanna around 7.30 pm, an hour after the scheduled time fixed by the State, and lasted for over five-and-a-half hours.

The protesting doctors said they highlighted issues of their safety inside state-run hospital premises, and details of formulation and functions of the promised task force at the meeting. The medics raised matters concerning transparency in referral systems, bed allocation to patients, recruitment of healthcare workers, and an end to the prevailing “threat culture” on campuses.

Representation of students in unions, hostels and decision making bodies of hospitals, setting up of college-level task forces, and holding of college council and resident doctors’ association elections, were also raised in the meeting. The doctors said their demands were “inextricably linked” to the concern that a gruesome crime like the one that took place at RG Kar Hospital never gets repeated.

“The government agreed that most of our demands were just and needed immediate implementation. But we were disappointed at the end of the talks when the Chief Secretary refused to give us a signed minutes of the meeting,” a doctor said.

An unsigned minutes of the meeting released by the Bengal government after the meeting stated that the junior doctors demanded the formation of an inquiry committee against the Principal Health Secretary for alleged misconduct over the past 4-5 years, that include fostering a health syndicate.