Doctors from all over the country have decided to boycott work on Monday in solidarity with the junior doctors in Kolkata who have gone on an indefinite strike following assault on some of them in the city earlier this week.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has called a nation-wide strike on Monday, and they will also ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring out a law to end such violence.
The junior doctors’ strike has crippled the medical services all over Bengal though it had started in Kolkata since Tuesday morning. On Monday late evening, some junior doctors at the state-run NRS Hospital in Kolkata were beaten up by relatives of a 75-year-old patient who had died at the hospital.
Union health minister Harsh Vardhan on Friday appealed to Mamata Banerjee to not make it a prestige issue and to ensure the safety of doctors. “Instead of taking action against the attackers, she gave doctors an ultimatum, and it made doctors angry,” the Union minister said. “If she shows sensitivity, it will change the situation and end sufferings of patients all over the country.”
The doctors on strike have demanded unconditional apology from the CM and said she must visit them at the hospital.
The Delhi Medical Association and the resident doctors of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Safdarjung Hospital did not work today as a mark of protest. Monday’s strike however will exclude emergency services. Strike was observed in some hospitals of Maharashtra and Hyderabad on Friday itself.
Scores of doctors tendered mass resignation in various hospitals of West Bengal today.
Banerjee, during a visit to state-run SSKM Hospital yesterday had issued warning saying that those who don’t get back to work within four hours would be asked to vacate hostels. She said there were outsiders among them, a statement she reiterated on Friday.
