Bengal Minister smells 'politics' behind protesting doctors setting terms for talks

Kolkata, Sep 11 (IANS) Bengal Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya on Wednesday asked the junior doctors protesting outside the Swasthya Bhavan against the R.G. Kar rape and murder case to come for discussions with the state government without setting any conditions for the talks. 

Soon after the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Forum (WBJDF) set fresh conditions for accepting the Chief Secretary's appeal made earlier in the day to sit across the discussion table, Minister of State for Health Bhattacharya held a press conference and questioned whether there was politics behind the conditions set by the protesting medics.

“You will have yo come for discussions with an open mind. Given the conditions set for the talks, a question that automatically arises is whether there is politics behind the move,” she said.

Accompanied by Chief Secretary Manoj Pant and Director General of Police Rajeev Kumar, Bhattacharya reiterated the observation made by the Supreme Court on Monday that the protesting doctors in West Bengal must resume their duties by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, failing which the state government will be authorised to initiate disciplinary action against them.

However, unnerved by the Supreme Court ultimatum, the junior doctors have vowed to continue their agitation till their main demands are met, which include the suspension of the Health Secretary, Director of Health Services, and Director of Medical Education, among others.

Bhattacharya, however, refused to give direct reply to two questions put forth by the mediapersons -- whether the state government will send any further communique to the protesting junior doctors following the conditions set by them, and whether it was mulling any action to enforce the apex court’s observation on junior doctors rejoining duty.

“We will communicate that to you,” was Bhattacharya's short reply.

Reacting to the Minister’s apprehension that the protesters' demands had political backing, the junior doctors called it a 'baseless' statement since their agitaion is devoid of any representetive from any political party.

“It was the state government which capped our delegation to 12-15 members. We have asked for at least 30 members so that one representative from each of the 26 medical colleges in the state can be part of the delegation. We are still open for discussions provided our terms are fulfilled,” said a protesting junior doctor.

On Wednesday afternoon, Chief Secretary Manoj Pant appealed to the protesting doctors to send a delegation of 12-15 representatives to state secretariat Nabanna by 6 p.m. for discussions.

In reply, the junior doctors' forum said that they want to send a delegation of at least 30 representatives, besides seeking live telecast of the meeting.

The junior doctors' email reply read, "In reference to the email sent from [email protected], we would like to mention few points regarding the proposed meeting. As mentioned in our previous mail, we would like to reiterate some points. 

1) We want to send a delegate team of at least 30 representatives.

2) We want the meeting to be live telecasted for the sake of transparency amongall parties. 

3) We want the meeting to be based around our 5-point demands.

4) We are re-emphasising our point that we want our discussion to be in the presence of Hon'ble Chief Minister.

We are waiting for your positive response."