Agencies, Kolkata
Medical care in all the State-run hospitals in Bengal was today restored as the junior doctors, who resorted to ceasework from June 11 to protest assault on their two colleagues rpt colleagues at the NRS Hospital, called off their agitation after chief minister Mamata Banerjee conceded their all demands.
Medical care in all the government-run hospitals has been restored. Long queues of patients and their relatives at OPDs and emergency wards were seen at NRS in central part of the city, SSKM in south Kolkata and RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in northern part of the ctiy.
There is a huge rush of patients compared to other days of the week because of seven days ceasework and strike, according a booking official in the OPD at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital near Shyambazar.
The private hospitals also resumed business as usual after private practitioners who had joined ceasework on Monday in response to a call from (IMA) – Indian Medical Association.
After a 90 minutes face to face talk at Nabanna between the chief minister and 31 striking doctors , representing 14 medical colleges, in presence of two senior doctors, the government conceded all the 12-point demands and assured improvement to some of the infrastructural facilities.
The meeting was talecast live as demanded by the striking doctors before joining for talks at Nabanna.
The junior doctors also conceded chief minister’s request to have meeting at Nabanna, which was
initially rejected by them.
Ms Banerjee, in presence of DGP Virender and city police commissioner Anuj Sharma and other government senior officials, while condemning the attack on two junior doctors at NRS on June 10, assured her government would not tolerate any violence on the doctors.
Medical care across the state virtually collapsed for seven days –June11-17–hours after a group of people assaulted two junior doctors, including Paribaha Mukherjee, who survived a skull fracture, after a 75-year-old patient died of cardiac arrest at NRS Hospital, Sealdah.
Ms Banerjee conceded all the demands and proposals of the doctors like setting up Grievance Redressal Cell in state-run hospitals, and directed city police commissioner Anuj Sharma to deploy
a nodal police officer to monitor security of all the government hospitals in the city.
Ms Banerjee also visited Dr Parihaba Mukherjee at the Neuroscience Hospital at Park Circus last evening, which was also a demand of the doctors.
The week-long cease work across the state in all the government hospital to protest the assault had a chain reaction across the country and beyond. The Indian Medical Association (IMA), Doctors
Forum and senior medics supported the cause of the junior doctors, who have now been assured of zero tolerance, in case of violence, by the government.
Nearly 1000 senior government doctors had also quit the services but the government would not accept the resignation letters now.
Ms Banerjee said the doctors are assets of the society and there will be no punitive action for resorting to strike.
The chief minister also said the government would appoint a PRO (Public Relations Officer) to interact with the patient party.
The doctors alleged that threats on them have been a bane, affecting their professional duty to serve people. “Even politicians force us to do this and that, which affect our services,”one of doctors told the CM.
Ms Banerjee said she gave all the instructions to all the departments as suggested by the striking doctors to implement in the right earnest.
The doctors had alleged that the attack on NRS hospital was pre-planned and police did not take action against the offenders.