India News | RG CAR deadlock: Doctors to continue strike after second round of talks fails
Kolkata, Sep 19 (PTI) The second round of talks with the West Bengal government to end the junior doctors’ strike remained inconclusive as the doctors claimed they were unhappy with the outcome and would continue their agitation and strike.
The doctors claimed that the talks held on the 40th day of the strike failed to resolve the impasse as the state government refused to hand over the written minutes of the talks. The doctors said that though the government agreed to them on several points and gave “verbal assurances”, they were not given the minutes of the meeting despite repeated requests.
Read this also | Mathura train accident: 25 coaches of goods train derail near Vrindavan Road station in Uttar Pradesh (see video).
However, the government later released unsigned minutes of the meeting.
“We are not happy with the outcome of the meeting. Though the state government agreed on several issues related to safety in hospitals, they did not give us any concrete assurances,” a doctor said after coming out of the meeting at Nabanna.
Read this also | Nawada: Over 25 houses set on fire over property dispute in Bihar’s Manjhi Mahadalit Tola village; shocking visuals emerge.
The West Bengal government on Wednesday invited junior doctors, who are agitating over the RG Kar rape-murder case, for a meeting at the state secretariat at 6.30 pm on their request for a fresh round of talks.
On Monday, the delegation was led by Banerjee, while on Wednesday the meeting was chaired by Chief Secretary Manoj Pant.
Another doctor said, “The talks were inconclusive. The meeting with the chief minister on Monday was positive, but today’s meeting was not positive at all. We have been asked to submit a draft of our other demands to the chief secretary, and then they will consider it.”
The doctors were accompanied by stenographers to record the proceedings of the meeting — just as they were at the meeting with CM Banerjee at her Kalighat residence on Monday.
The doctors said they wanted to resume their work, but only if the government took “concrete and clear steps” to meet their demands.
According to the minutes of the meeting released by the West Bengal government after Wednesday’s talks, the junior doctors have demanded the formation of an inquiry committee against the principal health secretary for alleged malpractices in the last 4-5 years, including promoting health syndicates.
According to the meeting details, the government requested doctors to send 4-5 representatives to the state task force on security, but the doctors proposed wider representation from all medical colleges.
“Both sides agreed to implement the central directive for deployment of women police officers for night patrolling, installation of panic buttons by departments and setting up of helplines for quick intervention,” the minutes said.
The protesters highlighted security issues inside state-run hospitals as the agenda of the proposed meeting, along with details of the formation and functions of the promised task force headed by the chief secretary.
According to minutes of Monday’s meeting, there was a consensus to set up a task force to address doctors’ safety concerns, including concerns about the “persistence of a culture of threat” toward students and trainees by senior officials at state-run hospitals.
The doctors will now continue their dharna in front of the state health department headquarters – ‘Swasthya Bhawan’ – where they have been sitting for the last nine days until their conditions for talks are met.
Earlier, accepting the demands of the doctors, Banerjee transferred Kolkata Police chief Vineet Goel and appointed Manoj Kumar Verma in his place and also removed two senior officials of the Health Department.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from syndicated news feed, Latestly staff may not have made any changes or edits to the content)