Mamata gives ultimatum; agitated doctors defy

The chaos over the cease-work by junior doctors at several state-run medical colleges in Kolkata snowballed on Thursday as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s ultimatum to the agitators to resume work by 2 pm was met with a blunt refusal. The agitating junior doctors not only defied the chief minister’s deadline but also demanded an unconditional apology from her for her remarks.

Health services at several state-run hospitals in West Bengal have been disrupted since Monday night when junior doctors at the NRS Medical College were allegedly assaulted by the family members of a patient who died at the hospital.

After reaching the state-run SSKM Hospital at 12.10 pm, Mamata lashed out at the agitating junior doctors and accused them of depriving patents from service.

“You should be ashamed of yourself. I condemn those who are indulging in such acts. All of them are not junior doctors, but there are some outsiders who are creating trouble here. I will tell the police to take strong action against them,” she said.

She said those junior doctors who were refusing to work will not be allowed to stay in college hostels, and the state government will not help the junior doctors who refuse to work.

“Those who will not work will not be allowed to stay in the college hostels. We will consider those who will resume work by today. The state government will not extend any cooperation to those who will not resume work,” said Mamata.

She got further enraged when a section of the agitators started shouting slogans interrupting her speech. She challenged the agitators to bring all the leaders they have and said that they should not try to teach her how to conduct an agitation.

The Chief Minister alleged that there was a ploy to create “Hindu-Muslim division” over the issue and slammed the BJP and CPM.

However, the agitators said that they will resume work only when their key demand for enhanced security at government medical colleges is met. Meanwhile, 11 doctors at Sagar Dutta Medical College tendered their resignation in protest against the attack on junior doctors at NRS.

History of violence at NRS Medical College:

2014, November: A mentally challenged person Korpan Shah was allegedly assaulted and subsequently by a section of students at NRS and subsequently died.

2015, June: The junior doctors allegedly assaulted the family members of patients after they raised allegations of medical negligence.

2017, September: The junior doctors at NRS allegedly got involved in a brawl with family members of the patient.

2018, August: A couple of junior doctors were allegedly assaulted by a patients family members after his death.