RG Kar impasse: Junior docs to end sit-in, partially lift 'cease work' agitation

KOLKATA: Ending the logjam persisting for the last 41 days, agitating junior doctors announced the withdrawal of their sit-in before Swasthya Bhawan on Friday and partial resumption of duties entailing the attending essential services in state-run hospitals from Saturday.

The medics also announced setting up of Abhaya medical camps, in memory of the brutally murdered RG Kar trainee doctor, at flood-affected regions of the state from Friday.

To mark the withdrawal of their 10-day dharna before Swasthya Bhawan, the stirring doctors gave a call to march to the CBI office at the CGO Complex in Salt Lake at 3 pm on Friday seeking justice for the RG Kar victim and a quick wrap up of investigations.

"Given the flood situation in West Bengal and the state government agreeing to certain demands of ours, we will be rejoining emergency and essential services partially from Saturday," an agitating doctor said on Thursday after their general body meeting.

The protesting doctors said they would not work in the Outpatient Department (OPD) but would partially work in emergency and essential services.

"We will wait for a week for the West Bengal government to implement all its promises and if unfulfilled, we will resume 'cease work'," the doctors said.

The announcements came shortly after Chief Secretary Manoj Pant, following up on issues discussed in Wednesday's meeting between the agitating junior doctors and the state task force, issued a list of directives on the safety, security and conducive environment for healthcare professionals, saying those orders need to be implemented immediately.

"The directives issued today reflects partial acceptance of our demands in terms of ensuring safety and security at campuses. We consider that a limited victory given that previously the state also acceded to our demands of removing the Kolkata police commissioner and senior health department officials.

"The arrests of ex-RG Kar principal Sandip Ghosh and Tala PS OC were also shots in the arm of our movement. We will, hence, end our stir here and return to essential services. But our fight is far from over," said Aniket Mahato, one of the agitating doctors.

It is the doctors' humane responsibility to aid people in distress in the inundated regions of the state given the threatening flood situation, he added.

"In its directive, the government has carefully avoided addressing the issue of persisting threat culture in medical colleges and ways and means to restore democratic atmosphere in campuses. There is no effective direction to end the climate of fear among junior doctors and there is no assurance that a repeat of the RG Kar incident will never take place in future," added Debasish Halder, another junior medic.

Halder confirmed that doctors would continue with their demonstrations at their respective colleges.

"We will draw up a Standard Operating Procedure detailing the nature of essential services which junior doctors would attend, This SOP would vary from hospital to hospital depending on the nature of emergencies they cater to," he said.

The medics clarified their intentions to continue hitting the streets and fighting it out at the Supreme Court "till justice for Abhaya is received".

The directives from the chief secretary had come hours after the junior doctors submitted to Pant a draft of the key points of their meeting with the government on Wednesday night which remained inconclusive on account of the state's alleged refusal to sign the minutes of meeting (MoM).

Pant, in a two-page communication to Principal Secretary (Health) NS Nigam, issued 10 directives including the need for "adequate availability of on-duty rooms, washrooms, CCTVs and drinking water facilities in the healthcare facilities."

Works in this connection must be completed as early as possible, the communication said.

It also stated that the state has appointed former DGP Surajit Kar Purkayastha to conduct security audits of all medical colleges and hospitals.

The directive included instructions to fully functionalise all hospital committees, including the Internal Complaints Committees, deployment details of security personnel on campuses, setting up of a centralised helpline number in healthcare facilities and a panic call button alarm system.

Earlier, the protesting doctors had sent to the chief secretary a draft of the key takeaways of the talks which took place between them and the government late Wednesday night, detailing the points which were discussed and agreed upon by the two sides.

The draft contained 15 points as suggestions for the directives to be issued by the state which included setting up of separate central and college-level inquiry committees to identify and initiate departmental proceedings against those responsible for perpetrating "threat culture" on medical campuses.

A cursory comparison between the draft issued by the stirring doctors and the CS directive showed that the state had issued corresponding instructions to implement nine of those 15 demands.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier transferred Kolkata Police chief Vineet Goyal and appointed Manoj Kumar Verma in his place, while also removing the directors of medical education and health services.

Meanwhile, the West Bengal Medical Council cancelled the registration of RG Kar Medical College's former principal Sandip Ghosh. Ghosh, an orthopaedic surgeon currently in CBI custody, has been removed from the list of registered medical practitioners maintained by the WBMC.