A crucial high-level meeting between the Bengal State administration led by Chief Secretary Manoj Pant and a delegation different doctors' organizations, including Indian Medical Association (IMA) failed to produce desired results "for want of any concrete initiative from the government's side," the representatives of the doctors associations said.
The meeting was hosted to end the present gridlock emerging out of the indefinite fast resorted to by a group of junior doctors demanding justice for the Kolkata doctor rape and murder victim and resolution of many other issues including the alleged "mafia and syndicate raj" in medical institutions.
"We came out hopeless as there was no positive intent shown by the Government," said the IMA representatives … the Government said that they are taking steps towards resolving issues … but there was no concrete proposal … there was no show of intent … nothing in writing was given to us … only they said 'we are doing … we are looking into it' … the Health Secretary whose resignation the junior doctors have been asking for and who should have been present in the meeting was not present and we were told that he is absent … this is the most insensitive Government that we have ever seen," the doctors emerging out of the meeting said.
The meeting was held in the backdrop of the junior doctors' indefinite fast entering its tenth day on Monday with four doctors already having been shifted to hospital with their parameters falling drastically, sources said.
"What illegality is there in the doctors' demands … they are asking for justice for their lady colleague who was raped and murdered on August 9 inside the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital … They are asking for a foolproof system including centralized real system with real time monitoring, enhanced security network, end of mafia and syndicate raj, timely students' union elections so as to keep the corrupt authorities in check … these can all be done The doctors are
The IMA reportedly gave in writing to the Government about the existence of a "mafia and syndicate raj inside the government hospitals including the medical colleges --- of which the RG Kar incident was an upshot."
The senior doctors during their meeting with the Government representatives demanded immediate removal of the present Chairman of the Patients' Welfare Committee Dr Sudipto Roy who is also a Trinamool Congress MLA, besides they asked for the "dissolution of the State Medical Council which is the breeding ground of medical mafias" generating hundreds of crores, sources said.
The doctors also demanded the "publication of a proforma from the Government wherein a mass resignation could be made legally tenable," the IMA representatives said adding, the State Government had earlier said that it was not taking the matter of mass resignation of the doctors seriously as there was no procedure for such mass resignations as "resignations are individual affairs."
Referring to the meeting the Chief Secretary however said that the Government would deliberate over things at appropriate level. "In the meeting we told the doctors that we have noted their issues and concerns and would intimate them at appropriate time .. we also told them that the main concern is the deteriorating health of the junior doctors … we requested them to see to it that the fast should end immediately because the Government is concerned about the doctors," the Chief Secretary said.
Meanwhile a delegation of the junior doctors backed by members of civil society on Monday marched to Raj Bhavan to see Governor C.V. Ananda Bose so as to draw his attention towards the alleged "inadequacy of the charge sheet submitted by the Central Bureau of Investigation" in the RGKMCH case.
"We have seen that only one person has been named in the charge sheet whereas several other persons have been arrested on charges of tampering of evidence … we want to know why their names were left out from the charge sheet," doctors asked. An eleven-member delegation was deliberating with the Governor when reports last came in.
