The fast-unto-death agitation by junior doctors over the rape and murder of a junior doctor at R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital entered the 10th day on Monday. A crucial meeting of various doctors’ associations and the West Bengal government is scheduled for the day to find a solution.

The number of junior doctors on hunger strike at the dais at Esplanade in central Kolkata has now come down to six as one more striking doctor, Pulastya Acharya, had to be rushed to hospital on Sunday night following a serious deterioration in his medical condition because of continuous fasting.

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Acharya had been admitted to N.R.S. Medical College and Hospital, where he is himself attached as a junior doctor, at around 11 p.m. on Sunday, after he complained of severe stomach ache and vomiting tendencies, the two common symptoms of the adverse effects of continuous fasting.

Pulastya is the fourth junior doctor to be hospitalised following a deterioration in medical conditions, with the other three being Aniket Mahato of R.G. Kar, Anustup Mukhopadhyay of Calcutta Medical College & Hospital and Aloke Verma of North Bengal Medical College & Hospital at Siliguri in Darjeeling district.

A crucial meeting between the different doctors’ associations, including the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and the West Bengal Chief Secretary Manoj Pant has been scheduled on Monday at 12.30 pm at Swasthya Bhavan, the state health department headquarters at Salt Lake in the northern outskirts of Kolkata, to find out a solution to the ongoing impasse on this issue.

Meanwhile, the doctors attached to different private hospitals have started partial cease-work at their respective hospitals from 6 a.m. on Monday, which will continue till 6 a.m. on Wednesday. Only the emergency medical services in these private hospitals will be available during this period.

Meanwhile, medical reports of Acharya have suggested that his condition deteriorated on Sunday night because of an imbalance in sodium-potassium level and acid-base, some typical adverse effects of continuous fasting.

He continues to be under saline and the crisis is yet to be over, said a representative of West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front (WBJDF), the umbrella body of the junior doctors spearheading the movement in the rape and murder case.