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Journalism of Courage
As protests continue at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital over the rape and murder of a junior doctor, senior doctors and faculty of the hospital have submitted a mass resignation letter to the director of medical education. In their letter, they have expressed concern over the “deteriorating” health of six of their colleagues, who are on an indefinite hunger strike starting Tuesday.
The letter, which has so far got 47 signatories, said that doctors were concerned that the health of their colleagues — who are protesting for better work conditions in the aftermath of the rape and murder — is “deteriorating tremendously fast”.
“We, the undersigned doctors of R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, have been striving to provide optimal hospital services. However, the current conditions have made it increasingly challenging to deliver the quality of patient care that is essential,” the letter said.
It further said: “We request the government to come into reconciliation with the protesting doctors and the ones who are sitting on indefinite hunger strike immediately. We senior doctors of R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital are giving mass resignation (sic)”.
The state government seems to be “oblivious to the deteriorating conditions” of these doctors, a senior doctor told The Indian Express.
“If the situation demands, we will also go for individual resignations.”
Sayan Mandal, a junior doctor at the hospital, said doctors from other hospitals will also start mass resignations.
“This will hopefully create more pressure. The system is run by seniors… if they resign, it will collapse,” he said, while another doctor called the mass resignation “a welcome step”.
The protests at the RG Kar Hospital have been ongoing since the rape and murder of a junior doctor on August 9. Doctors across West Bengal have been demanding better work conditions, crippling medical services across the state.
On Monday, the junior doctors announced a 12-hour hunger strike that started at 9 am Tuesday, with protesters announcing that six of them will also sit on an ‘indefinite’ hunger strike.
Meanwhile, junior doctors are preparing to hold a symbolic rally from central Kolkata’s College Square to the protest site Dharmatala later in the evening, although the police have yet to give them permission for this march.
Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is investigating the case, is expected to submit its chargesheet in the case at a special court in Sealdah this afternoon. The agency is expected to charge Sanjoy Roy, a civic volunteer who was arrested in August, under sections 64 (rape), 66 (punishment for causing death or resulting in persistent vegetative state of victim) and 101 (murder) under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
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