Doctors Protest at RG Kar Hospital: Conditions Set for Talks with Mamata Government

All eyes are on the talks between the doctors protesting against the brutality at RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata and the Mamata government. Junior doctors sent an email to the Chief Minister's Office and agreed to hold talks. Earlier on Tuesday, the doctors had refused to talk. In response to the email sent by the doctors at around 3:49 am on Wednesday, the government had requested them to attend a meeting at the State Secretariat at 6 pm. But now the doctors have put forward some more conditions for the talks.

Chief Secretary Manoj Pant had sent a mail to the doctors regarding the talks. It said, "We invite your delegation, preferably consisting of 12-15 colleagues, for discussion at Nabanna today i.e. 11.09.2024 at 6 pm. Please send the list of members of your delegation by email. We are waiting for your positive response and hope for a meaningful conversation."

But now the doctors have put forward some more conditions before the government before the talks. Addressing the press conference, the protesting doctors said that we have received a mail from the West Bengal government. We want 30 representatives to be allowed in the meeting. We want CM Mamata Banerjee to be present at that meeting. Also, live streaming of this meeting should be done, so that everyone can know what has been discussed. Now everyone's eyes are on whether the Mamata government will agree to these conditions and when will this meeting be held now.

Despite the Supreme Court's deadline, the doctors have not ended their protest. The Supreme Court had given the doctors a deadline to return to work by 5 pm on Tuesday. But the doctors continued the protest. At the same time, the Bengal government had also called a delegation of 10 doctors to meet on Tuesday. The email was also sent to the students. But this proposal of the Mamata government was rejected by the protesting doctors. After this, TMC claimed that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was waiting in her room to meet the delegation of doctors, but there was no response from the doctors in response to this mail. After not getting any response from the doctors, the CM left the Bengal Secretariat.

The doctors said that in response to the Bengal government contacting them for talks, we got a mail with great surprise. We had five demands, which included the demand for the removal of DHS and DME and the Health Secretary. But surprisingly, that Health Secretary has mailed us. If we want, we can come to Nabanna with 10 representatives. The email of the Health Secretary has come. We do not see this as a positive sign. We are always ready for talks, but the Health Secretary sending a mail is very insulting to us.

The agitating doctors are demanding that Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal, State Health Secretary, Director of Health Education (DHE) and Director of Health Services (DHS) be removed from their posts. They have also demanded adequate security and protection for all female health professionals in the state.