West Bengal Pradesh Congress(PCC) president Shubhankar Sarkar faced a rebuff from protesting junior doctors when he visited Sagar Dutta Medical College today, with the doctors raising slogans demanding that he should leave the college immediately. A strike is ongoing at Sagar Dutta Medical College following incidents of harassment of doctors and healthcare workers after a patient’s death. Shubhankar claimed he had gone to stand by the doctors, workers, and students as a common man.

However, due to the strong rebuff from the students, he had to leave the college campus. The students have made clear they will not allow any political leaders inside the college. Meanwhile, police security has been increased at Sagar Dutta Hospital. After a meeting on Saturday, 12 additional constables were deployed for security, along with four officers. Previously, there were 28 police personnel. Now, the total number of police deployed for security has risen to 44. From Sunday, the additional police officers will be stationed at Sagar Dutta Medical College. Despite the increased police security, the protesting doctors remain unconvinced.

Advertisement

They stated that even with police presence, a nurse was assaulted inside the hospital. However, the police were not seen taking effective action during the incident. After the rape and murder incident at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, junior doctors had staged a prolonged protest in front of Swasthya Bhavan demanding security in hospitals. Following a prolonged standoff, there was a meeting with chief minister Mamata Banerjee. In that meeting, the state government assured the doctors of ensuring hospital safety. This issue was also discussed during a hearing in the Supreme Court, where Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud asked the state government what steps had been taken to ensure the safety of doctors in hospitals. However, despite this, an unfortunate incident occurred at Sagar Dutta Medical College.

As a result, the junior doctors have once again called for a strike. The Supreme Court hearing is scheduled for Monday, and until then, they remain firm in their decision to continue the strike. Among the demands raised during the protests over the RG Kar incident, ensuring the safety of doctors and healthcare workers in hospitals was one of the key issues. After a series of continuous meetings, the doctors eventually withdrew their strike. Amid this, there was an allegation of harassment of healthcare workers at Sagar Dutta Medical College following the death of a patient.

In protest against this incident, junior doctors have now called for a strike at all medical college in the state starting Monday afternoon. A junior doctor stated, “We have repeatedly said that the healthcare infrastructure needs to be improved, but nothing has been done. Even after the Supreme Court’s directive, we haven’t seen any goodwill from the government. After a patient’s death at Sagar Dutta, an attack took place. We have called for a relay torch march on Sunday evening.”