Healthcare services were disrupted in West Bengal after junior doctors stopped working in all state-run medical institutions following the assault of an intern in a city hospital after the death of a patient.
The agitating junior doctors at the Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital said there will be no work at any medical college and hospital in the state until they are given full protection.
Patients are left in the lurch as the strike of junior doctors entered the second day. Many patients have been denied treatment for the past three days.
An attendant was quoted by ANI as saying that “he was not being allowed to enter the NRS Medical College & Hospital and that many of his patients were on the verge of death due to lack of treatment”.
Family members of patients at the state-run SSKM Hospital have started a simultaneous protest by occupying the streets outside and blocking traffic on the AJC Bose Road crossing demanding treatment of their ailing kin.
West Bengal Medical Council (WBMC) president and Trinamool MLA Nirmal Maji had earlier told PTI that officials were trying to persuade the doctors to resume work.
“The chief minister has sent MoS Health Chandrima Bhattacharya, Police Commissioner Anuj Sharma, myself and other senior officials to talk to them. We are looking into their demand and hopefully the matter will be solved quickly,” Maji said.
The doctors began the protest after an intern at the NRS Medical College and Hospital was seriously injured following a clash between junior doctors and relatives of a patient who died late Monday night due to alleged negligence.
The intern named Paribaha Mukherjee sustained serious a skull injury in the attack and has been admitted in the intensive care unit of the Institute of Neurosciences in Kolkata’s Park Circus area. His condition is reportedly stable.
Consequently, junior doctors locked up the hospital gates, stopped work at the OPD and started a ‘dharna’ to protest against the attack.
(With agency inputs)