Bengal Doctors Announce Fast-Unto-Death If Demands Not Fulfilled In 24 Hours

The West Bengal Junior Doctors' Forum (WBJDF), spearheading the movement against the ghastly rape and murder of a junior doctor of R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in August this year, on Friday announced its decision to withdraw the cease-work demonstration considering the interest of the common people who come for medical services at state-run hospitals.

However, WBJDF representative Debasish Halder said that the junior doctors will start a fast-unto-death agitation if their demands that are within the jurisdiction of the West Bengal government are not fulfilled within 24 hours.

WBJDF had already laid out the conditions for withdrawal of their ongoing cease-work agitation that resumed on Tuesday.

According to them, the first of their 10 demands relates to the protracted judicial process to ensure justice for the rape and murder of the victim, whose fulfillment depends on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, a WBJDF representative said the fate of the remaining nine demands depend on how serious the state government is about fulfilling them.

"We want the state government to fulfill these remaining nine demands within the next 24 hours, failing which we will be going for fast-unto-death agitation," he said.

The other demands include immediate removal of the state health secretary, introduction of centralised referral system and digital bed vacancy monitor, task forces based on each college, with elected representation of junior doctors, increased police protection in hospitals, filling up of vacant posts of doctors, nursing staff and health workers and setting up of inquiry committees must be established in every medical college to investigate those involved in threat syndicates and punish them.

An inquiry committee must also be formed at the state level, immediate elections for student councils in every medical college and immediate enquiry on rampant corruption and lawlessness inside West Bengal Medical Council and West Bengal Health Recruitment Board.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)