RG Kar issue Jr doctors’ hunger strike enters 10th day, another medic falls sick

 

 

 

THE ‘fast-unto-death’ by junior doctors in West Bengal to press for their demands in the wake of the RG Kar hospital incident entered the 10th day on Monday, even as the health condition of two more medics deteriorated, one of whom has been hospitalised, officials said. Pulastha Acharya, a junior doctor from NRS Medical College and Hospital, was admitted to the health facility on Sunday night after he complained of severe stomach pain. “Pulastha is in the CCU and his parameters have deteriorated. We have formed a medical board to treat him,” a senior doctor of the NRS Medical College and Hospital told PTI. Tanya Panja, another junior medic from the Kolkata Medical College, showed signs of deteriorating health in the afternoon. “Her vitals are not stable and she is currently under observation at the protest site. We are yet to decide if she needs to be hospitalised,” a protesting doctor said. “Most of the junior medics who are on hunger strike are not keeping well.

 

We are monitoring them,” he told PTI. Three of the junior medics who were on hunger strike in Kolkata and Siliguri city in the northern part of the State were earlier hospitalised in view of their health condition. The total number of doctors on a ‘fast-unto-death’ is seven at present, including a junior medic from the North Bengal Medical College’s ENT department, who joined the strike this afternoon. The junior doctors are also planning to take out a rally to the Raj Bhavan to protest against the “slow pace” of the CBI investigation into the RG Kar hospital incident. “We have decided to organise this march because we believe the CBI has not performed its duties in a prompt manner. We will submit a deputation to the Raj Bhavan after the march,” stated junior doctor Debashish Haldar. Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Manoj Pant has urged the Joint Platform of Doctors to call off a planned demonstration on October 15, as it coincides with the State Government’s annual ‘Durga Pujo Carnival.’ He has invited the JPD for a meeting at the State health department headquarters, the Swasthya Bhawan, to discuss their demands.

 

In an email, Pant also requested that the JPD advise the junior doctors to end their hunger strike for their health and well-being. In response, the JPD, in a statement expressed “profound disappointment” over the State Government’s decision to proceed with the carnival, “while doctors and citizens are on the streets demanding justice and a safer healthcare system”. “Junior doctors have been on hunger strike for 10 days, with 3 of them in the ICU, yet the Government prioritises celebrations over addressing these grave concerns,” it said. “We do not seek to cancel the Government’s carnival, respecting the constitutional right to celebrate. Equally, we assert our right to peaceful, democratic protest without disrupting the festivities. It is disheartening that the Government has asked us to withdraw the call of ‘Droher Carnival’ (demonstration) on October 15, which was intended to show solidarity with the agitating junior doctors,” the statement said. The junior doctors have been demanding justice for the RG Kar hospital victim, immediate removal of Health Secretary N S Nigam, workplace security and other measures.

 

The other demands include the establishment of a centralised referral system for all hospitals and medical colleges in the State, the implementation of a bed vacancy monitoring system, and formation of task forces to ensure essential provisions for CCTV, on-call rooms, and washrooms at their workplaces. The hunger strike from October 5 followed nearly 50 days of ‘cease work’ in two phases. Their agitation began after an on-duty postgraduate trainee was raped and murdered inside State-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9.