On Saturday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee spoke with protesting junior doctors, agreeing to all their demands except one: the ousting of the state’s health secretary, Narayan Swaroop Nigam. Mamata admonished the doctors to call of their strike and go back to work they however refused and vowed to not eat until monday when they will be going to meet her in the state secretariat.
In an email by Chief Secretary Manoj Pant, a 45 minutes meeting was held for Monday after the hunger strike is done. One of the demands of the doctors was that student elections at medical colleges should take place within four months; the chief minister accepted the bargain.
But Mamata did not budge on the issue and said, “You cannot have your say who will be the officer and when he will quit.” She said she can probe on specific grievances, but opted not to dismiss him without an act. Nigam’s resignation was the second on the doctors’ list of demands after a speedy probe into the rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee on August 9.
However, junior doctors maintained their protest that started in the form 42 days cease-work over the rape case even though Mamata offered other privileges. Some of them have been on a hunger strike since October 5, demanding 10 points as they call them.
He said his health was fine, and to the demonstrators demanding higher wages, Mamata told the doctors that their concerns were being heard. She particularly called on government hospitals to reopen to avoid people to solely depend on the private facilities. The doctors refused to resume work they said they would only do so once all their demands had been met.
Some of the doctors went on hunger strike, and though some of them had been admitted to hospitals, they were discharged after brief hospitalisation but their hunger strike was maintained.
