Docs put forward six conditions, demand Didi's apology to end stir

The doctors on strike in Kolkata on Friday (June 14) put forward six conditions to call off their stir besides demanding unconditional apology from chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

The chief minister had repeatedly on Thursday and Friday called a section of the protesting doctors ‘outsiders’, and threatened them to call off their stir or face action.

Health service is always dedicated to the patients.

I, therefore, appeal to all to restore normal healthcare services to the patients without any further delay.

My Facebook post: https://t.co/oOrHMzti8E pic.twitter.com/xeTetT1uN7

— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) June 13, 2019

The strike is developing into a nationwide protest with doctors from cities like Hyderabad, Delhi, Nagpur and Mumbai boycotting work and staging similar protests in solidarity with their counterparts in West Bengal on Friday (June 14).

Also, the Calcutta High Court on Friday refused to pass an interim order on the ongoing strike by junior doctors in state-run hospitals, asking the state government to persuade them to rejoin work. It has given the government a week’s time to respond on the doctor’s strike in the state.

Meanwhile, reports stated that doctors in state-run hospitals across West Bengal have resigned en masse. Doctors could be seen being praised for tendering their resignations on videos that are doing rounds on the social media.

Two doctors of North Bengal Medical College and Hospital, Darjeeling resigned over violence against doctors in the state on Friday, said a report.’

Nationwide strike on June 17

The India Medical Association (IMA) on Friday declared ‘All India Protest Day’ against the incident urging its members to stage protests and wear black badges in solidarity with the West Bengal doctors. IMA also plans to approach Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to bring a central law against violence on doctors.

They have also called for a nationwide protest on Monday (June 17).

On Thursday, doctors at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) wore helmets and stained bandages on their forehead protesting the violence against their colleagues in West Bengal.

On Friday, the Delhi Medical Association (DMA) called for a statewide shutdown of health services. The Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors has decided to shut down OPDs, wards and academic services under it from 8am to 5pm on Friday, ANI reported. In Hyderabad, doctors staged a protest at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences. Similar protests were seen by doctors in Raipur’s Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Memorial Hospital in Chhattisgarh and Government Medical College in Nagpur, Maharashtra.

“A mob assaulted doctors on duty at a hospital in West Bengal. When a targeted attack like this happens, it becomes a law and order issues. Today, we are doing a silent protest over the incident,” ANI quoted Prashant Choudhary, president of MARD, Sion Hospital, Mumbai as saying at a sit-in on Friday.

Twitter uproar

Twitter has been trending with the hashtag #SaveTheDoctors with many from the community coming together to demand security for doctors on hospital campuses.  Emergency services, however, will function normally at hospitals where the strikes are underway.

Doctors in West Bengal have been on strike since June 11 after a junior doctor was assaulted by a mob at a government hospital in Kolkata following the death of a patient. On Thursday the striking doctors refused to end their stir until they were provided adequate security in government hospitals and defied a deadline set by the chief minister.