RG Kar case: West Bengal doctors call off hunger strike after meeting CM Mamata Banerjee
The agitators also withdrew their call for a complete shutdown of the health sector in the state that was scheduled for Tuesday.
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The junior doctors in West Bengal protesting against the rape and murder of their colleague called off their hunger strike on Monday after a two-hour meeting with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, PTI reported.
The doctors also withdrew their call for a complete shutdown of the health sector in the state that was scheduled for Tuesday. This strike was announced on October 18 in view of their demands for introducing better safety measures in medical institutions.
Their agitation began in response to the rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9.
“In today’s meeting [with Banerjee], we did get the assurance of some directives,” Debasish Halder, a protesting junior doctor, told PTI on Monday. “But the body language of the state government was not positive.”
Halder said that the “common people had wholeheartedly supported” the junior doctors.
“They, as well as the parents of our deceased sister [the 31-year-old trainee doctor], have been requesting us to call off the hunger strike, keeping in mind our deteriorating health,” he added. “We are therefore withdrawing our ‘fast-unto-death’ and also Tuesday’s total shutdown in the health sector.”
The doctors, however, said that their “movement” would continue, The Indian Express reported.
Meeting with West Bengal CM
Earlier in the day, a delegation of 17 junior...
