Kolkata: Buckling under public pressure due to patients’ continued suffering on the sixth day of their statewide agitation, junior doctors and interns of West Bengal government medical colleges and hospitals softened their stand on Sunday afternoon and agreed for immediate talks with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Following the doctors’ fresh proposal, the Chief Minister decided to call the protesters for a meeting on Monday.
The agitating doctors, however, set three conditions — talks should be held at an open forum, have the presence of representatives of all 14 medical colleges and media should also be allowed to cover the proceedings.
Ms Banerjee had on Saturday invited the agitators for closed-door talks, but the offer was turned down by them.
Services continued to remain affected for the sixth day on Sunday in emergency wards, outdoor facilities and pathological units of many state-run hospitals and private medical facilities in the state, leaving several patients in the lurch.
Ms Banerjee has called representatives of agitating doctors for a meeting at Nabanna, the state secretariat, on Monday afternoon. The state health department has suggested that one representative from each of the 14 medical colleges be allowed at the meeting but media should be kept away, sources revealed.
The junior doctors’ U-turn on talks came at a meeting at Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital (NRSMCH) a day after Ms Banerjee announced that she had accepted all their demands. The protesters had earlier demanded an apology from the chief minister and asked her to visit NRSMCH.
At around 4.30 pm on Sunday, junior doctors’ forum “Save The Saviours’ said, “The last press interview by the chief minister on Saturday was full of discrepancies which have led to false propagation of the motto behind our protest and to the response of the government to it, and hence needs clarification. We want immediate end to this impasse by discussion with the CM which, to maintain transparency, should not be held behind closed doors but should be open to the media under camera coverage.”
