Junior doctors in Kolkata are continuing their protest dharna and demonstration outside Swasthya Bhavan, the West Bengal Health Department headquarters, which began on 11 September.
Talks between the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the agitating junior doctors, scheduled to be held on 12 September, did not take place, due to the government’s refusal to meet the conditions set by the doctors for the talks. While the investigation into the rape and murder of the junior doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on 9 August has been now been handed over to the CBI, the junior doctors have repeatedly voiced their concern that the state government is trying to cover up the real culprits and deliberately stalling the investigations.
On 27 August a deliberate provocation and vandalism was organised in an attempt to discredit the junior doctors’ agitation and justify police repression on the protesting doctors.
Earlier, on 9 September, the Supreme Court had ordered the protesting junior doctors in West Bengal to resume work by 5 pm on 10 September, with the assurance that no punitive action will be taken against them. The Chief Minister has cynically asked the agitating doctors to “join the Durga Puja festivities” due to take place next month, and “forget their grievances”, which has been widely condemned by the doctors and masses of people. The junior doctors rejected the Court’s orders and have decided to continue their agitation until their demands are met.
The government has launched a massive campaign of lies and slander, blaming the agitating junior doctors for the deaths of patients in the hospitals. The junior doctors have exposed and refuted these lies. They have boldly exposed the corruption and other problems in the state government health system, holding it squarely responsible for the hardships of the patients. They are persisting in their demand for punishment of the guilty, for better public health care services in the government hospitals, for better and safer working conditions for the doctors, for safety of women doctors, etc. They have also demanded the suspension of Police Commissioner, Health Secretary, Director of Health Services, and Director of Medical Education.
The junior doctors expressed their sentiments through a statement that was presented during their agitation on 9 September. We reproduce excerpts of the statement below:
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“After today’s Supreme Court hearing, we are deeply disheartened and aggrieved.
We observe that there has been no progress in the investigation of the horrific rape and murder of Abhaya (the name given to the victim by the doctors) which was taken over by the CBI. From High court to Supreme Court and from Kolkata police to CBI, the investigation has been handed around, yet justice remains distant.
Moreover, we saw the state government and its lawyer Kabil Sibal playing a disgraceful role in trying to stop and malign our movement by any means.
They claim that due to the junior doctors’ strike, people are dying and patient services are being disrupted.
We want to remind everyone clearly that the out-patient services are operational in every medical college in the state, with senior doctors tirelessly providing care.
We also want to remind the public that there are 245 government hospitals in the state, out of which only 26 are medical colleges.
The number of junior doctors is less than 7500. West Bengal has nearly 93,000 doctors. Given that only a few medical colleges have junior doctors on strike, how can the entire healthcare system be said to be collapsing?
This indicates that the government is spreading falsehoods and misleading the Supreme Court. We believe that this is a nefarious government effort to tarnish our movement and mislead the massive public support for it.
We condemn Kapil Sibal and the health department, including the health minister, for this vile attempt to mislead the Supreme Court.
We want to remind both the government and the Supreme Court that junior doctors are not the main pillars of healthcare system.
They are merely trainees. If we accept the government statistics as true and then if the healthcare system collapses due to the junior doctors’ strike alone, it actually highlights the serious shortage of senior doctors, nurses and healthcare infrastructure in government hospitals.
The health department and health minister cannot escape responsibility for this. We also saw that Kapil Sibal and state government have shifted the blame for the violent activities that occurred during a political program on August 27 onto us.
We want to remind everyone that we have clearly stated that we had no connection with the political program, did not support any violent or politically motivated activities and will not do so in future.
However, the way the government and their lawyer have lied to the Supreme Court, we strongly oppose and condemn it. Even after 30 days of the incident, the state government has not taken any sincere steps regarding the main demands of the movement. They are trying to place all the blame on the CBI investigation.
No action has been taken regarding the police negligence or the healthcare corruption. The suspension of … seems more like a mere cover up.
Such big suspension orders will be challenged and taken down in court. This appears to be nothing more than a facade to pacify public anger. We demand that strict disciplinary action be taken against the principal of the college and the health department. …
From the first day of our movement, we have raised demands concerning safety. We have requested separate restrooms and bathrooms for duty doctors, adequate security personnel, CCTV and female security personnel for women doctors, restroom and proper security measures outside wards and OT rooms.
However, we want to remind that merely increasing police presence and separate doctors’ rooms will not ensure safety. Ensuring proper patient services in government hospitals is essential to guarantee the safety of doctors and healthcare workers.
The extensive corruption within the health system is present at all levels. There are numerous vacancies in the health system and in peripheral medical colleges, which are in a devastating state without advanced infrastructure or staff appointments. The healthcare system does not solely run on doctors.
It also involves GDAs (General Duty Assistants), technicians, nurses and doctors, all of whom are integral to the system in the long term. Permanent appointments are not being made for GDAs or technicians. Temporary workers are being hired instead, causing various problems.
In our daily experience, we know that there is no proper referral system in the state’s health system. There is no central referral system, no initiative to digitise the medical services and colleges, no facility managers listening to patients’ issues.
Patients face harassment daily due to the lack of a proper referral system and the government provides no information on how many patients die without treatment on a day-to-day basis. With super speciality hospitals and numerous medical colleges opening up, the situation in the workplaces remain unchanged.
There is shortage of doctors, permanent nurses and healthcare workers. Most new medical colleges in the districts have minimal senior faculty and inadequate modern diagnostic facilities. We want to remind you that building grand structures alone does not ensure healthcare services. A sound health policy, proper staff appointments and genuine government intent are required.
Unfortunately, we do not see such a picture. We question why a seriously injured man had to travel 30 km from Ganga ghat to Kolkata for a CT scan and why was there no minimal CT scan facility in a nearby super-speciality hospital? If the government genuinely cares about providing medical services to the poor people in the districts, why are district hospitals and primary healthcare systems not being developed?…”
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The agitating doctors have declared that their protest will continue until their demands are met. They have expressed their willingness to have talks with the government authorities but are insisting that these should be held in a transparent manner, to smash the government’s false propaganda against the protesting junior doctors .
People from all sections of society have been coming out in support of the agitating doctors. There has been an outpouring of solidarity, with people bringing food and other essentials to the protest site, with people cutting back on their Durga Puja festival budget to assist the agitation or celebrating their birthdays with the protesting doctors.