Calcutta HC questions Mamata govt on doctors’ strike, directs to find solution

Kolkata, June 14: The Calcutta High Court has refused to pass any interim order on the strike by junior doctors at state-run hospitals in protest against the attack on two of their colleagues by family members of a patient.

Doctors in major metro cities, including Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi and Mumbai, are on protest in solidarity with counterparts in Kolkata where a standoff is underway between the Mamata Banerjee government and junior doctors.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice TBN Radhakrishnan and Justice Suvra Ghosh asked the state government to persuade the striking doctors to resume work and provide usual services to patients.

The court also directed the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government to apprise it of the steps taken following the attack on the junior doctors at a city hospital on Monday night.

The Chief Justice, during the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), reminded the striking doctors of the 'Hippocratic Oath' they take to ensure the welfare of all patients. The bench fixed June 21 for further hearing of the petition.

Junior doctors across all state-run hospitals in West Bengal have called for a strike, demanding adequate security in medical colleges and hospitals, after two of their colleagues were brutally beaten up at NRS Medical College and Hospital in the city.

Emergency wards, outdoor facilities, pathological units of many state-run medical colleges and hospitals and a number of private medical facilities in the state have remained closed over the past three days in the wake of the protest.