News Mania / Piyal Chatterjee / 14th October 2024
After being ill on Sunday, one of the West Bengal junior doctors who had been part of the “fast-unto-death” protest to demand their demands in the wake of the RG Kar rape-murder event was brought to the NRS ICU here. The doctors in protest have called for a Monday march to Raj Bhavan to express their dissatisfaction with the CBI’s “dissatisfactory” investigation into the RG Kar incident.
In order to show support for the demonstrators, a large number of people also staged “symbolic fasts” throughout the state.
Chief Secretary Manoj Pant of the government wrote to the Joint Platform of Doctors (JPD) on October 15, asking them to cancel their planned agitation because the state government’s already announced “Pujo Carnival” was scheduled for the same day. In order to discuss their demands, he also called members of the body to a meeting on Monday at Swasthya Bhawan. According to sources, Pant’s response was regarded by junior doctors as merely a “pro forma” that did not address their issues in any detail. Pant also requested in an email that the JPD “advise” the junior doctors to halt their hunger strike for their own health and well-being.
After their health worsened, three junior physicians who were on a “fast-unto-death” in Siliguri and Kolkata were admitted to hospitals.
In an open letter to the chief minister, thirty distinguished individuals, including filmmaker Aparna Sen, actor Riddhi Sen, theater personality Kaushik Sen, director Srijit Mukherjee, and activist Bolan Gangopadhyay, also urged doctors to end their fast-unto-death.
