Kolkata: Govt hospitals in turmoil as doctors refuse to end strike, Mamata blames opposition- Top developments

Updated Jun 13, 2019 | 18:39 IST | Times Now Digital

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) of engineering the strike and bringing in the communal angle into it.

Mamata Banerjee
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee  |  Photo Credit: PTI

Kolkata: All hell broke loose in Kolkata after a junior doctor in a government hospital was attacked by the relatives of a patient who died earlier this week. The junior doctors of Kolkata have gone on strike refusing to attend patients in the city's government hospitals while demanding adequate security for the doctors in the hospitals. They also met state Governor Kesari Nath Tripathi and discussed the ongoing situation at length. On the other hand, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday issued a deadline to the doctors to return to work immediately, which was later defied by the doctors on strike. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) of engineering the strike and bringing in the communal angle into it.

Here are the top developments in the matter so far:

  1. The TMC chief took to her Facebook handle and once again urged the striking doctors to resume work while sharing the pictures of ailing people in the strike-hit hospitals in Kolkata. She also alleged that other political parties are spreading misinformation on social media to aggravate the ongoing situation.
  2. CM Mamata Banerjee has written a letter to senior doctors and professors of medical colleges and hospitals in the state requesting them to take care of the patients and poor people who have come from all districts for their treatment in their hospitals. "I will be obliged and honoured, if you all please take full care of the hospitals and ensure that they must run smoothly and peacefully," she added.
  3. Recently, ABVP, the student wing of the BJP held a press conference in which it slammed the incident where the junior doctor was thrashed by the kin of the patient who died. The ABVP spokesperson called out the complacency of the police for failing to take action against the perpetrators and demanded the police to immediately look into the matter.
  4. Earlier in the day, members of the Joint Platform of Doctors, West Bengal met the governor and asked for adequate security in every medical college and hospital, and proper action against those who attacked the doctors in NRS Hospital on June 10. They further said that they will resume working once their demands are fulfilled.
  5. Senior BJP leader Mukul Roy had alleged that the attack on the junior doctor was carried out by a particular community and the perpetrators belonged to the Trinamool Congress. Mamata Banerjee immediately retaliated to the BJP and the CPM accusing them of indulging into Hindu-Muslim politics.
  6. Elsewhere in Delhi, members of Resident Doctors' Association of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) worked while wearing helmets and bandages as a mark of protest against the "worsening violence against medical doctors in West Bengal".
  7. While speaking at SSKM Medical College in Kolkata where the doctors are sitting on strike, Mamata Banerjee demanded the hospitals to start working within four hours of her warning. She also warned them that failure to do so will invite strict action against the defiant doctors. "Nothing can be as unfortunate as doctors not working for 4 days, I condemn this," said the West Bengal CM.
  8. On Thursday morning, the doctors continued their strike for the third consecutive day demanding the CM to visit the NRS Medical College and Hospital where the incident took place.
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