Kolkata doctor death Case: CM Banerjee meets protesting doctors; Kolkata Police Commissioner, 2 health officials to be sacked

Kolkata: After four failed bids to sit for an open discussion regarding the five-point charter demand, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee held a two-hour meeting with 42 delegations of the West Bengal Junior Doctors Front yesterday, during which the Chief Minister agreed to the bulk of the demands put forward by the doctors.

During the meeting which was held at the Chief Minister's residence in Kalighat at around 6.30 pm, the minister expressed her heartfelt grief for the PG trainee doctor who was allegedly raped and murdered at the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital and announced her decision to remove Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Kumar Goyal, Director of Medical Education (DME) Debasis Halder and the Director of Health Services (DHS) Kaustav Nayak from their respective positions.  

It was alleged that the Director of Medical Education (DME) and the Director of Health Services (DHS) besides the Deputy Commissioner (North Division) allegedly offered money to the parents of the RG Kar victim.

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Addressing the doctors, Banerjee said, "Given the demand of junior doctors, Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Kumar Goyal has said in the meeting that he is ready to resign. He would hand over the responsibility to the new CP. We will announce the name of the new police commissioner after 4 pm on Tuesday after the scheduled hearing in the Supreme Court gets over."

While discussing issues regarding safety and security within the hospital and college premises, Banerjee sanctioned Rs 100 crore for hospital infrastructure like CCTV, Washroom etc., which will be formalized in close consultation with the medical fraternity. The composition of the Rogi Kalyan Samiti will be revised to make it more inclusive through the inclusion of all stakeholders.

According to the Minutes of the Meeting (MoM), the State Government proposed that a Task Force headed by the Chief Secretary and including the Home Secretary, the DG Police and CP Kolkata as well as representatives as would be proposed by the Junior doctors will look into the related matters concerning the safety and security of the doctors. An effective and responsive grievance redressal mechanism will be put into place in the medical infrastructure across hospitals and colleges.

The decisions were formalised in the minutes of the meeting which was signed by Chief Secretary Manoj Pant and countersigned by the delegation of 42 doctors who participated in the talks to end the RG Kar hospital deadlock.

This comes in the wake of demands by West Bengal Junior Doctors' Front and Resident Doctors' Association (RDA) to remove Kolkata Commissioner of Police as well as the replacement of all the senior officials in the Health and Family Welfare Department of the Mamata Government, ANI reports. 

On Monday, West Bengal Junior Doctors' Front and Resident Doctors' Association (RDA) held a press conference in the national capital and laid down their demands.

Amid the ongoing protest against the rape and murder of the second-year postgraduate trainee doctor inside a seminar room of Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College on August 9, the front noted down five-point demands, which include the call for justice for the victim "Abhaya" and to expedite the investigation process in the case.

They also demanded the removal of the Director of Medical Education (DME), the Director of Health Services (DHS), and the Health Secretary from the Department of Health and Family Welfare of the West Bengal Government.

The front called for "action against incompetent and complacent police authorities" and demanded the removal of Kolkata Commissioner of Police Vineet Goyal as well as the Deputy Commissioner of Police of North and Central for administrative failure and alleged evidence tampering. 

However, the WBJDF representatives expressed disagreements with regard to no disciplinary actions against DC Central and transfer of Health Secretary. 

"As regards ensuring safety and security, it was intimated by WBJDF that further discussions regarding specific formulations of the same will be required. It was also proposed that the existing threat culture prevalent in the medical colleges can be removed after further deliberations through specific formulations (democratically elected students unions and RDAS etc.)." stated the MoM. 

Further, the meeting ended with an appeal from Banerjee to the junior doctors to join back to work ensuring the delivery of health care services to people of the state.

The agitating doctors are on ‘cease work’ across the state for 38 days since the gruesome alleged rape and murder of the postgraduate intern at RG Kar hospital came to light on August 9, crippling state-run healthcare delivery.

“We have accepted almost all demands of the doctors. Keeping in mind the plight of the common people, we did the best we could. I now appeal to the doctors to return to work,” Banerjee said as quoted by PTI confirming that no disciplinary action would be taken against the agitating doctors.

Meanwhile, the junior doctors responded to the Minister's appeal by saying that they would continue their protests till the words were converted into concrete action. 

“We will decide on what our next step would be after the hearing at the Apex court and after we confirm the government issuing those transfer orders it has promised,” announced Dr Debasish Halder, one of the leaders, from the sit-in before Swasthya Bhawan which is continuing for a week amid inclement weather.

“While the CM has accepted our demand to remove the CP, DC (North), the DHS and DME, she is yet to agree on removing the principal secretary of the health department or the DC (Central). The discussions on the operating threat syndicate in hospitals and the thriving corruption racket remain incomplete. We only have verbal assurances on those matters so far. So our fight is far from over,” added Dr Aniket Mahato, another leader.

Previous attempts to resolve the issue got stuck due to the state government's rejection of the doctors' demand for live-streaming and video recordings of the meeting.

The agitating medics later agreed to a compromise, now only asking to record the minutes of the meeting and receive a signed copy. The state government also allowed the two stenographers, accompanying the agitating doctors, inside the venue to record the minutes of the meeting.

The talks fructified after the state government "for the fifth and the final time" invited the protesting doctors for talks to end the impasse, two days after the dialogue failed to take off over disagreement on live-streaming of the meeting.

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