Striking doctors refuse to meet Mamata, demand unconditional apology

New Delhi, June 14: The government is staring at a massive problem as the strike by doctors has not only spreading to different cities of the country, but the medical professionals are also resigning in protest. And now, they have even refused to talk to Mamata Banerjee.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday invited the agitating junior doctors for a meeting at the state secretariat, which they declined saying it is a ploy to break their stir. She convened the meeting to find a solution to the ongoing impasse disrupting normal services at all state-run medical college and hospitals for four days. After the protesting doctors did not turn up on Friday, Banerjee gave them time again at 5 pm on Saturday for the meeting at state secretariat Nabanna, reported PTI.

The doctors are demanding security as some of their colleagues were attacked last week in Kolkata by family members of a patient who passed away. The strike may worsen as today a second year MBBS student at Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital sustained head injury after miscreants pelted bricks on agitating doctors. The agitation started in Kolkata. By Thursday, medical professionals in several government-run hospitals in several cities held protests to express solidarity with their counterparts in Kolkata.

Earlier today, doctors had threatened mass resignation. As per latest reports, total 119 doctors of North Bengal Medical College and Hospital, Darjeeling, have resigned over violence against doctors in the state.

Junior doctors in West Bengal are on a strike since Tuesday after a doctor was attacked and seriously injured allegedly by relatives of a patient who died at NRS Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.

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.

The Indian Medical Association has called for a nation-wide strike on June 17.

As if the violence against the doctors was not enough, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee added fuel to the fire by losing her cool and warned them. Banerjee gave doctors an ultimatum and threatened that they would be thrown out of their hostels if they don't get back to work.

This worsened the matters and Doctors in major metro cities, including Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi and Mumbai, joined protest in solidarity with their counterparts in Kolkata. Doctors across the country expressed their anger towards the way Banerjee handeled a sensitive issue.

Calcutta High Court also intervened in the matter and 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.