The second round of talks between junior doctors and West Bengal government officials failed to end the strike, with doctors accusing the authorities of refusing to provide written minutes of the meeting on the RG Kar Hospital rape and murder case.
After the meeting, the medics announced they would 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.
This was the second 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.
“While the talks went smoothly, the government refused to hand over signed and written minutes of the discussed issues. We are feeling let down by the government’s attitude,” Aniket Mahato, one of the doctors, told the media about the five-hour meeting at the state secretariat ‘Nabanna’ that rolled well past midnight.
“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 N S Nigam in the wake of the alleged rape and murder of an RG Kar Hospital trainee doctor on August 9 that sparked nationwide outrage.
After the meeting, the Bengal government released an unsigned minutes log. In the meeting, junior doctors had called for an inquiry committee to investigate the principal health secretary for alleged misconduct over the past 4-5 years, including the promotion of a health syndicate.
West Bengal has been rocked by massive protests ever since the alleged rape and murder 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.
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.
“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.
Giving in to the medics’ demands, Mamata has already removed Kolkata police commissioner Vineet Goyal and two senior health department officials.
