Calcutta:
Junior doctors in Kolkata have said they will continue their protest against the gruesome rape and murder of a young doctor at Kolkata's RG Kar Hospital until justice is done. The announcement came late on Monday night, hours after the Supreme Court gave them a deadline of 5 pm on Tuesday to join work.
Doctors said the protest is “a popular movement and neither the government nor the Supreme Court should forget it.”
“We are very disappointed with the Supreme Court hearing… the case has been transferred from the High Court to the Supreme Court, from the state police to the CBI. But justice remains out of reach,” said a spokesperson for the junior doctors at RG Kar Hospital, the epicentre of the strike.
Doctors accused the state government of providing wrong information to the Supreme Court and said it is not correct to say that the health system has collapsed. The state health department, in its affidavit, said that 23 people have died due to the doctors' strike.
In an earlier press release, the Bengal branch of the Indian Medical Association said they would support the decision of the junior doctors whatever it may be.
“Considering the brutality of the crime, we were expecting a positive outcome but are totally disheartened by the proceedings of the court and the CBI. No steps were taken to ensure speedy trial and justice to our colleague… It was also very shocking to note that the way junior doctors were portrayed as responsible for some deaths in hospitals is totally false and in no hospital is the service completely hampered due to the movement of junior doctors,” the statement read.
For almost a month now, young doctors have been on strike in state hospitals.
During the hearing of the case on Monday, the top court had said that the protesting doctors should return to work on Tuesday evening.
“To create a sense of confidence, we declare that in case doctors resume work at 5 pm tomorrow, no adverse action will be taken. If there is continued abstention from work despite the facilities provided, action is likely to be taken in future,” Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud had said.
The Chief Justice, who has pointed out that the 28-day protest has severely affected the health services, said: “They are in a system to provide services. We will provide them facilities, but they have to reciprocate. If the doctors do not return to work, we cannot stop the government from taking disciplinary action.” Young doctors cannot say that the senior doctors are working, so they will not do so, he added.
The top court's order came during a hearing of the case, which the court had taken up on its own following mass protests over the rape and murder of the 31-year-old doctor last month. The prime suspect who has been arrested is Sanjoy Roy, a civic volunteer with the Kolkata police who was posted at the hospital's police outpost and had access to all departments.
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