RG Kar case: Bengal Chief Secy calls meeting with doctors’ associations on Monday

In wake of the protests against the rape and murder of a junior doctor of R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital, West Bengal Chief Secretary Manoj Pant has convened an emergency meeting with different doctors’ associations including Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Monday.

An official said that the meeting will be conducted at 12.30 p.m, on Monday at Swasthya Bhavan, the state Health Department headquarters at Salt Lake in the northern outskirts of Kolkata.

Each association has been asked to send two representatives to the meeting which will be chaired by the Chief Secretary himself.

“You are also requested to kindly mail the names of the two members who will be attending the aforementioned meeting,” the Chief Secretary said.

However, it is not yet clear whether the state health secretary Narayan Swarup Nigam will be present at the meeting or not.

One of the major demands of the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front (WBJDF), the umbrella body of junior doctors spearheading the movement against the rape and murder issue, is the replacement of the state health secretary.

However, at the time the report was filed the state government was yet to receive any return communication from any doctors’ association.

The ongoing fast-unto-death agitation by a group of junior doctors entered its ninth day on Sunday. Already three of those on hunger strike, which include two in Kolkata and one in Siliguri of Darjeeling district, had to be admitted to hospital following severe deteriorations in their medical conditions.

The doctors posted with different private hospitals in West Bengal announced that they would go for partial cease-work for 48 hours from Monday. The partial cease-work will start at 6 a.m. on Monday and continue till 6 a.m. on Wednesday. Only the emergency medical services in these private hospitals will be available during this period.