Indian Medical Association President RV Asokan and other members of the IMA met the doctors of the West Bengal Junior Doctors Front, who have been sitting on a hunger strike for the last six days, in Esplanade, Kolkata. The doctors have been demanding justice in the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital rape and murder case.
The IMA President also met one of the doctors, Aniket Mahato, who was hospitalised in the state-run RG Kar Hospital on Thursday night after his health condition deteriorated due to continuous fasting since Sunday. He said that the IMA has appealed to the Bengal goverment to address the doctors' concerns on an emergency basis, given their deteriorating health.
IMA 'Solidly Behind' Protesting Medics: Asokan
Asokan expressed concern over the health condition of the fasting medics and heaped praises on them for not speaking about themselves despite days of fasting.
"I have been to RG Kar, that boy is yet to become stable and the entire medical fraternity is concerned, and after these many days of fasting... not once they spoke about themselves, they spoke about the system, the corruption, they spoke about the concerns of the people, the profession," he said.
The IMA president expressed solidarity with the protesting junior doctors and stressed that the association was "solidly behind them". "We will go to any extent, we will not let them down," he added.
After meeting the doctors, Asokan addressed the media, saying that the demands put across by the medics are "eminently doable". "I bring the goodwill and concern of all the doctors of India. We are concerned, we are family. I have come with a very heavy heart for these young doctors, who are the struggling heroes of medical profession fighting for the cause of justice. All the demands are doable, eminently doable. IMA has appealed to the (state) government to address them in an emergency basis, considering the deteriorating health of these children," he said.
Junior doctors have been protesting over the rape and murder of a junior medic at the RG Kar Hospital in August. The medics are demanding justice for their deceased colleague and an immediate removal of Health Secretary NS Nigam.
Some other demands of the doctors include the establishment of a centralised referral system for all hospitals and medical colleges in Bengal, formation of task forces to ensure essential provisions for CCTV, on-call rooms, implementation of a bed vacancy monitoring system, and washrooms at their workplaces. The doctors want increased police protection in hospitals, employment of doctors and healthcare workers, and recruitment of permanent women police personnel.
The medics went on a cease work after the RG Kar case came to light. They ended their strike after 42 days after state government assured that it would consider their demands. However, they went back on strike after they did not get a positive response and instead started a fast unto death. Meanwhile, the health condition of six others who are also on fast started showing signs of decline.