Doctors go on strike again in West Bengal

Junior doctors attached to government hospitals across West Bengal on Tuesday restarted their 'cease-work' to protest Mamata Banerjee government's "inaction" on their demands for safety and reform in the healthcare system.

- SUPROTIM MUKHERJEE

The doctors held a governing body meeting for almost the entire night before announcing their decision to go for indefinite and total cease work from Tuesday morning.

"We are compelled to return to a full 'cease-work' starting today. Unless we receive clear action from the Government on safety, patient services, and the politics of fear, we will have no choice but to continue our full strike," the striking doctors said in a statement issued this morning.

They also put forward their concerns over delays in the investigation into the rape and murder of the trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital and criticised both the CBI and the Supreme Court for the slow progress in the case.

In their statement on Tuesday, the West Bengal Junior Doctors' Front (WBJDF) put forth ten demands, including the removal of the State's Health Secretary, task forces in every medical college, increased police protection in hospitals, and immediate

hiring for all staff vacancies.

Rampant corruption and lawlessness in West Bengal Medical Council (WBMC) and West Bengal Health Recruitment Board (WBHRB) must be brought under inquiry immediately, the junior doctors said.