'People dependent on you for treatment': Mamata urges junior doctors to withdraw fast unto death

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee

Urging the junior doctors to withdraw their fast unto death, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she would meet them on Monday to further discuss their demands.

Banerjee was speaking to them over the phone on Saturday afternoon when Chief Secretary Manoj Pant visited the site in Dharmatala where the junior doctors were sitting on fast unto death over the rape and murder of their colleague at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.”Everybody has the right to protest, but it shouldn’t affect healthcare services,” she said, urging the doctors to withdraw their stir.

”Most of your demands have been fulfilled, give me three-four months more to meet the rest of the demands,” she added.Banerjee told the doctors she did not differ with their demands, requesting them to sit for talks with her government.”Please withdraw the agitation. Some of the demands need policy decisions. We will cooperate to the fullest extent possible but it is not acceptable that you will dictate to the government what should be done,” she said.Pant was accompanied by Home Secretary Nandini Chakraborty.

The junior doctors have been demanding the removal of the state Health Secretary Narayan Swaroop Nigam, besides addressing other issues. In response, Banerjee acknowledged their frustration but said, "You know why I did not remove the health secretary. It is not possible to remove everybody in a department in one go. We had earlier removed the DHS and DME. Please rise above politics and rejoin work." "How can you decide which officer will be removed or not? Is this logical?" she questioned.

So far, six doctors on hunger strike have been hospitalised due to deteriorating health, while eight others remain on an indefinite fast, demanding that the state government take constructive action by October 21 to resolve the deadlock.

The CM stressed that the doctors should withdraw their strike and meet her at state secretariat Nabanna on Monday to further discuss their demands. "I have removed the Commissioner of Police (CP), the Director of Medical Education (DME), and the Director of Health Services (DHS), but I cannot remove everyone in the department," Banerjee explained.

"Some of your demands need policy decisions. We will cooperate to the fullest extent possible, but it is not acceptable that you will dictate to the government what should be done," she asserted. She appealed to their sense of responsibility, emphasising the impact the strike was having on healthcare services in the state.

"People are dependent on you for treatment. Where will the poor people go? They are treated free in government hospitals. Please forget my position and treat me as your 'Didi'. These are your just demands, but you should serve the people," she urged. The agitating doctors, who have been joined by their colleagues across the state, have also threatened to escalate the protest by organising a strike of all medical professionals in West Bengal on October 22 if their demands were not met.

The junior doctors went on a 'cease-work' following the alleged rape-murder of their fellow medic at RG Kar hospital on August 9. The hunger strike began on October 5, following nearly 50 days of 'cease work' in two phases, after the tragic rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee inside state-run RG Kar Medical College on August 9