West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday announced a hike in the salary of the doctors employed by the government of West Bengal – apparently in a bid to win over the medics, who were up against her government for months after the rape and murder of a trainee physician on August 9 last year.
She reiterated that the state government was in favour of strict punishment for the culprit responsible for the rape and murder of the young doctor at the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. The chief minister also announced withdrawal of the suspension of the doctors who were held responsible for medical negligence that led to the death of a woman and made four others critically ill after childbirth at a hospital in the Paschim Medinipur district of the state a few weeks back.
Banerjee announced a salary hike of Rs 15,000 for senior doctors, and Rs 10,000 for junior doctors, including the interns, house staff and post-graduate trainees.
“Senior doctors teach the junior doctors many things. I will request the senior doctors not to leave everything on the juniors be it a C-section or a cardiac surgery. Give at least eight hours of your service for government hospitals and then carry on with your private practice. I don't have any problem with that,” said Banerjee, announcing the salary hikes for the doctors.
With the assembly elections in West Bengal little over a year away, Banerjee sought to mend fences with the medics after their protests against the rape and murder of the 31-year-old post-graduate trainee doctor at the RGKMCH in Kolkata put her government and Trinamool Congress in a tight spot for almost three months. With the civil society activists and common people standing by the agitating junior doctor in Kolkata and other places across West Bengal, the widespread protests threw up the most formidable political and administrative challenge for Banerjee ever since she led the TMC to power in 2011.
The agitation by the doctors also brought to the fore corruption in the healthcare sector of the state.