RG Kar Hospital Protests: Junior Doctors seek live telecasted talks with State Govt, Continue stir
Kolkata: Protesting junior doctors, in response to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's invitation for talks, have demanded that a delegation of at least 30 members be permitted to attend the meeting to address the RG Kar Hospital impasse.
Calling for a transparent discussion with MoS Health (West Bengal) Chandrima Bhattacharya over the RG Kar medical hospital incident amid the continuous protest by the doctors in Haryana, Dr Arnab Mukhopadhya on Thursday said we have all the discussion channels open, but our prerequisite conditions aren't unfair.
According to an ANI report, "We have seen that a public meeting was organised by the state government. MoS Health (West Bengal) Chandrima Bhattacharya was there, he said certain things including - that he wanted an open heart discussion with us. We are also waiting for that.
It would be better and we have demanded that the discussion be live telecasted to maintain transparency. He said that he is disheartened, I want to say that he is disheartened while sitting in the AC room while we are here. We have all the discussion channels open, but our prerequisite conditions aren't unfair... We will continue our protest," Dr Arnab Mukhopadhya told ANI.
According to ABVLive reports, addressing a press conference alongside state minister Chandrima Bhattacharya and West Bengal Director General of Police (DGP) Rajeev Kumar, Pant said: "We have mailed them today as well, we requested them to come and meet us today. We wanted to tell them what we were planning. Unfortunately, there response was not positive. The meeting was scheduled for 6 PM and just a few minuted before we received another email. They want 30 people to be present...We want both sides to sit face-to-face and resolve the differences through dialogue."
"No discussion can take place with condition. We thought we will discuss openly. This attitude is not correct," he asserted. Pant also expressed that the government was disheartened when the doctors did not arrive for the meeting and responded via email.
Also Read:Kolkata doctor rape-murder case: Protesting doctors defy SC order, to continue strike
"We are all educated people, and the doctors are also very good students. We are saddened that the students are responding in this manner via email. We believe and hope that all these students will follow the Supreme Court’s direction and return to work soon," the Chief Secretary stated.
After receiving the demands from the doctors, the Bengal government had invited another delegation of not more than 15 doctors to state secretariat Nabanna for talks. "Once again as another opportunity, we invite your delegation--preferably consisting of 12-15 colleagues--to join us for a discussion at 6:00 PM today, ie. 11.09.2024, in Nabanna. A list of the members of your delegation may please be intimated by email," the letter signed by Chief Secretary Manoj Pant stated.
Meanwhile, Junior doctors continued their protest at the Swasthya Bhawan salt lake area of West Bengal.
Earlier on Wednesday, the West Bengal Medical Council in Kolkata held a rally, demanding justice in the RG Kar rape-murder case, news agency ANI reported.
The rally of doctors held banners stating, "In demand of punishment for all rapist-murderers and their accomplices in the Abhaya rape and murder case."
The long procession showed doctors raising slogans and holding banners and taking to the streets to voice their demand for justice in the gruesome case.
Earlier, agitating doctors of the RK Kar Hospital clarified about their refusal to accept West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's invitation for talks at the state secretariat to resolve the impasse over their refusal to return to work.
Speaking to ANI, Dr Aqeeb said, "The mail that we received yesterday was from the principal secretary and it was written that there is a meeting with senior government officials, stating it to be a closed-door meeting. We refused it because we were against the closed-door meeting."
"Like WB Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said the Chief Minister was waiting for us, nothing of this sort was mentioned in the mail. We then sent a mail to the CM office in which we mentioned our five demands," he said.
The second-year postgraduate medical student was raped and murdered inside the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College on August 9.
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