Have accepted all demands of protesting doctors, says Mamata

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said she has accepted all the demands of protesting doctors and urged them to rejoin the services.

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee. PTI Photo

KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said she has accepted all the demands of protesting doctors and urged them to rejoin the services. "We have accepted all the demands of agitating doctors. We are ready to accept more, but they must rejoin service," Banerjee said. She said that even after five days of strike by junior doctors, her government has not invoked ESMA Act or taken any action against them. "I do not want to invoke the Essential  Services Maintenance (ESMA) Act in the state. I want the junior doctors to resume work as we have accepted all their demands," she said. "We never arrested a single person. We will not take any police action. Health services cannot continue like this. I am not going to take any stringent action. Let good sense prevail," the TMC chief said. Banerjee appealed to all doctors to resume work as thousands of people are awaiting medical treatment. "The state government is committed to resuming normal medical services at the soonest. The incident on 10th June was unfortunate. We had continuously tried to reach a solution," she added. Earlier in the day, in an open letter to doctors and medical fraternity, Banerjee appealed to all help in restoring normal healthcare services without any delay. "Our government is cooperating fully and taking all necessary action...some misinformation/disinformation being spread on social media by some political parties is completely untrue," Banerjee said in the letter. She expressed her gratitude to senior doctors and professors who are offering full services to the people. "My humble regards to them for their cooperation," the letter said. "Health service is always dedicated to the patients. I, therefore, appeal to all to restore normal health services to the patients without any further delay," Banerjee said. She said the state government has taken "all necessary action whatever required - our Additional Chief Secretary, Health, visited the injured doctor and met a section of the agitating junior doctors and appealed to them to resume services". Protesting against the brutal attack on two junior doctors by the family members of a dead patient in the NRS Medical College and Hospital on Monday night, doctors across the state have stopped work at the outpatient departments in most government hospitals in the state since Wednesday. Banerjee said five persons have been arrested and their bail prayers were rejected by the court and an enquiry has been started to look into issues from all sides. "Our government has taken full care of the injured doctor. We pray that he recovers quickly. As per information received, he is stable and improving," she said. "An unfortunate incident took place in NRS Hospital 4 days ago. I sent my colleague, Chandrima Bhattacharjee, Minister-of-State, Health and Family Welfare, to visit the injured doctor and talk to a section of the junior doctors who are agitating and request them to withdraw the agitation as people are not getting treatment... I sent Commissioner of Police, Kolkata to talk to the junior doctors," the letter said. Cancer and kidney patients, accident victims, even children coming from distant places are suffering for not getting treatment, Banerjee said.