Junior doctors during their ongoing protest against R G Kar Medical College and Hospital incident in front of Swasthya Bhawan, in Kolkata, on September 16, 2024. | Photo Credit: PTI Protesting junior doctors hailed the decision of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to remove of Commissioner of Kolkata Police, Health Department officials, and Deputy Commissioner (DC) North as a major victory and landmark in their 38-day long protests demanding justice for their 31-year-old deceased colleague.The doctors, however said that they want the assurances to be acted upon and will resume services only after consulting with protesting doctors of other hospitals. The development comes after a meeting between the Chief Minister and a delegation of about 40 doctors at her residence.Also read | R.G. Kar Medical College senior doctors allege tampering of evidence “After extensive discussion, the Chief Minister has given us primary assurances for the removal of Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal, as well as of the DME and DHS. But, she has not taken a decision for the Principal Health Secretary, based on our points surrounding evidence tampering and the threat culture and corruption in the healthcare system,” Debasish Halder, one of the protesting doctors said right after the meeting concluded. “It is because the safety and security issues are not only external, they also stem from internal threat culture, mafia culture, and other corrupt, unethical practices that exist in the hospitals,” Mr Halder said. “For that we need a democratic forum to be able to uproot these entirely, and for this, we have kept doors open for further discussion.” Kinjal Nanda, one of the PGT doctors from RGKHC thanked the support of common people in the movement. “It is you who has helped us keep the movement going and keep our spine in place. The common people who stood with us have kept the movement going. Today, after such long protests, the government has been forced to accept our legitimate demands.” The protesting doctors and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee held talks on Monday (September 16, 2024) evening after five rounds of unsuccessful attempt to sit on the discussion table. The talks came after 38 days of protests since August 9 when the body of an on-duty trainee doctor was found inside the RG Kar Hospital and College (RGKHC) in a rape and murder case.  Protesting doctor Aniket Mahato said, “Chief Minister assured that she will remove the DHS, DME, and CP. If this assurance becomes reality, we will be able to say that the discussions with her were successful up to an extent.” He further stated, “Principal Secretary and DC Central removal issues have not been talked about. We have spoken regarding safety security and RDA at various colleges, she has talked about a national task force, with Chief Secretary as the head. Though we have disagreed to it, we are ready to sit down and discuss on it further.” Mr Mahato further stated, “If our cease work protest and sit-in demonstration will continue will only be decided once we have met our fellow protestors and discuss the details with them.” A protesting doctor reacted to the meeting and the talks held between the stakeholders and said, “We came to clean the rot in the Health Department, we were successful up to an extent.” Negotiations in the meetingIn a signed minutes of the meeting, the 42 representative doctors and the government representative Chief Secretary Manoj Pant agreed to assure “Rs. 100 crores have been sanctioned for hospital infrastructure like CCTV, washroom etc., which will be formalized in close consultation with the medical fraternity.” The meeting also led to multiple further steps which both parties agreed on. The official statement said, “The issues regarding safety and security within the hospital and college premises was discussed. The State Government proposed that a Task Force headed by the Chief Secretary and including the Home Secretary, the DG Police and CP Kolkata as well as representatives as would be proposed by the Junior doctors will look into the related matters.”  The government officials and Chief Minister Banerjee asked protesting junior doctors to immediately return to work.  In the meeting that transpired for over 4 hours of negotiations, it was also agreed upon that, “An effective and responsive grievance redressal mechanism will be put into place in the medical infrastructure across hospitals and colleges.” The Government also said that the issues faced by the State’s medical fraternity would be addressed and solved in close coordination with the Chief Secretary. “It was also proposed that the existing threat culture prevalent in the medical colleges can be removed after further deliberations through specific formulations (democratically elected students unions and RDAs etc.),” it was announced.  Published – September 17, 2024 02:39 am IST