West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday announced that the state government would provide a compensation of ₹ two lakh to the families of 29 people who allegedly died after being unable to receive the required treatment amid the ongoing strike of protesting junior doctors. The junior medics have been on a 'cease work' since August 9, demanding justice for the Kolkata doctor who was raped and murdered at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
"It is sad and unfortunate that we have lost 29 precious lives due to disruption in health services because of long-drawn cease work by junior doctors," Banerjee posted on X.
"In order to extend a helping hand to the bereaved families, state government announces a token financial relief of Rs 2 lakh to family members of each deceased person," she added.
The agitating doctors have also been staging a sit-in outside the state's health department headquarters 'Swasthya Bhavan', which entered its fourth day on Friday. The medics are demanding the removal of top officials of the department.
Oppn Conspired To Attack Protesting Doctors To Defame CM: TMC
Meanwhile, senior Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh on Friday claimed during a press conference that some opposition political forces hatched a conspiracy targeting the protesting junior doctors in a bid to defame the CM Mamata Banerjee-led government and her party TMC.
Ghosh played a purported audio clip during the conference, wherein two persons could be heard planning to attack the protesting junior doctors when they returned from Nabanna (state secretariat) on September 12 night.
A team of 30 doctors had gone to Nabanna on Thursday to hold talks with Mamata Banerjee to resolve the RG Kar impasse. However, the meeting did not take place as the doctors refused to enter the meeting hall till the state government agreed to their demands. The medics had demanded that the meeting be live-streamed and that a delegation of 30 doctors be allowed inside for talks.
The state government did not accept these conditions but assured that video cameras had been installed inside the hall to record the meeting. CM Mamata Banerjee stated that she had waited for the doctors for over two hours and that they did not turn up despite agreeing to do so in their reply to the government's email.
"The audio clip makes it clear that some people wanted to attack the junior doctors last night and they may be at the game again. We have asked the police and security forces to be on alert and ensure it doesn't happen. We hope to peacefully resolve the issue," the TMC leader said, as reported by news agency PTI.
He further asserted that some Left and ultra-Left parties are conspiring to infiltrate into protestors's ranks to carry on the attack aimed at defaming the TMC and the Banerjee government, adding that the information was credible.
'Our Request Was Not Unjustified': Doctors
Referring to yesterday's stalemate, when neither side budged to compromise and resolve the ongoing issue, protetsing doctor Anustup Mukherjee told reporters that their request to live-telecast the meeting was not "unjustified" since Mamata Banerjee herself encourages live-telecasting of all her administrative meetings.
"When CM (Mamata Banerjee) herself encourages live telecast of all her administrative meetings, then perhaps our request was not unjustified...We were also asked to keep all our electronic gadgets outside the meeting hall, which negated any chance of video recording from our side. But much to our disappointment, this issue remained non-negotiable, unfortunately, as we waited patiently in the streets of Nabanna," he said.
In response to CM waiting for the doctors to arrive for the talks, he stated that the doctors too have been waiting for 34 days to seek justice. "The meeting for which the entire nation waited eagerly had to be called off for such a small issue...We know that our CM has waited patiently for us, but we also have been waiting for the last 34 days to seek justice. We don't have any political agenda as has been unduly claimed by our CM. We never demanded her resignation from any of the numerous administrative posts she is holding," the doctor said
"The CM has apologized to the general public for the cancellation of yesterday's meeting. We, the protesting junior doctors, believe that in addition to that, we should all apologize universally to the departed soul for not being able to bring her justice yet," he added.