The doctors' protest in Bengal enters the fifth day today.
As the doctors' strike in West Bengal has entered the fifth day today, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said she accepts all valid demands of the protesting doctors and requested them to return to work. Ms Banerjee, addressing the media this evening, said "State government is committed towards resuming normal medical services at the soonest." The doctors' stir has now spread to other parts of the country. Nearly 300 doctors resigned from the government hospitals in West Bengal on Friday amid protests against an attack on their colleagues. Junior doctors in West Bengal are on a strike since Tuesday after two of their colleagues were attacked and seriously injured allegedly by relatives of a patient who died at NRS Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.
Here are the highlights of the Doctors' protest across India:
Mamata Banerjee appeals to all doctors to return to work:
Mamata Banerjee says: "State government is committed towards resuming normal medical services at the soonest. The incident on 10th June was unfortunate. We had continuously tried to reach a solution."
Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has written to Chief Ministers of all states and Union territories drawing their attention for strict action against any person who assaults doctors. "Strict action against any person who assaults them, must be ensured by the law enforcement agencies," he said.
Resident doctor at All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi continues with symbolic protest by wearing helmet.
AIIMS, Safdarjung doctors issue 48-hour ultimatum to Mamata Banerjee
Resident doctors of AIIMS and Safdarjung Hospital, who boycotted work on Friday in protest against attacks on their colleagues in Kolkata, have now given a 48-hour ultimatum to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to meet the demands of the state's agitating doctors, failing which they said they would go on indefinite strike.
If condition worsens, will go on strike: Chief of AIIMS Resident Doctors' Association- All junior and the senior resident doctors at AIIMS are back at work but are continuing the protest.
- They are holding symbolic protest by wearing black badges, helmets and bandits.
- The said that they have given 48-hour to Mamata Banerjee and West Bengal health minister to meet their demands, failing which they would resort to an indefinite strike from June 17.
Indian Medical Association delegation meets Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan
Sharad Yadav appeals to doctors not to strike work
AIIMS Resident Doctors Association issue ultimatum
Govt should give us security, say doctors- With striking junior doctors refusing to meet her, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday invited them again to meet her today evening to end the impasse in government hospitals.
- The protesting doctors have demanded an unconditional apology from Mamata Banerjee.
- "We want an unconditional apology from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the manner in which she addressed us at the SSKM Hospital. She should not have said what she said. She should come to the NRS Hospital to meet us," said Dr Arindam Dutta, a spokesperson of the joint forum of junior doctors.
- They have also put up six conditions for withdrawal of their stir.
- West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi said he had called up Ms Banerjee to discuss the issue of doctors' strike but got no response from her.
- "I tried to contact the chief minister. I called her up. Till this moment there is no response from her. If she calls me up, we will discuss the matter," he told reporters after visiting injured junior doctor Paribaha Mukhopadhyay at the hospital.
- junior doctor Paribaha Mukhopadhyay is one of the two junior doctors attacked by the relatives of a patient, who died at the NRS Medical College and Hospital on Monday night.
- The attack on the doctors triggered the ongoing state-wide stir by medicos.
- Ms Banerjee held a two-hour-long meeting with senior doctors, who were not part of the strike, and invited the agitating doctors for talks at the secretariat Nabanna.
- After the protesting doctors refused to meet the chief minister, dubbing the invitation as a ploy to derail their stir, she invited them yet again to meet her at 5 pm Saturday at Nabanna.
- The agitating doctors earlier stipulated six conditions for breaking the logjam.
- Chief Minister Banerjee must visit the injured doctors at the hospital and issue a statement condemning the attack on them.
- Seeking immediate intervention of the chief minister, the doctors also demanded a judicial probe into the police inaction in providing security to doctors at the Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital against attack on Monday night.
- "We demand documentary evidence and details of the action taken against those who attacked us," said Dutta.
- The agitators also demanded unconditional withdrawal of all "false cases and charges" imposed on junior doctors and medical students across West Bengal for going on strike.
- They also sought improvement of security infrastructure in all health facilities and posting of armed police personnel to shield them from any attack while on duty.
- As the medical fraternity from Delhi, Maharashtra, Odisha, Jharkhand and other states began to rally behind their West Bengal colleagues, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan urged Ms Banerjee not to make the "sensitive matter" a "prestige issue" and ensure an "amicable end" to the stir.
- Several prominent personalities like filmmaker Aparna Sen, rights activist Binayak Sen, thespian Kaushik Sen, film director Kamaleshwar Mukherjee and musician Debojyoti Mishra along with many senior doctors, visited the agitators at the NRS Medical College and Hospital to register their support to the agitating doctors.
- They later participated in a rally holding placards with a message "No more violence, enough is enough".
- The Calcutta High Court, meanwhile, refused to pass any interim order on the strike.
