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Street power: on the Kolkata protest

It has been a tumultuous month in Kolkata with junior doctors and civil society leading protests against the brutal rape and murder of a woman doctor on duty on August 9. The rallying cry, “We demand justice”, is being heard loud and clear by everyone, from the State administration right up to the Supreme Court. Doctors have defied the Court’s appeal to return to work, and had set conditions to hold talks with the State administration, including an assurance that the meeting is centred around their five key demands and is televised. The Mamata Banerjee government rejected the pre-conditions, and urged the doctors to return to work. The breakdown of trust between the two sides is proving to be counter-productive. The doctors want the culprits identified and punished; disciplinary action against R.G. Kar’s former principal, Sandip Ghosh, who is in custody; resignation of Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal; increased security for health workers; and an end to the “threat culture” in hospitals and medical colleges across West Bengal. As protests continue, the list of wants has expanded, and includes a call for an overhaul of the government health departments, which have not been functioning at their best.

The State government has taken several steps for the protection of health workers, such as launching an initiative, ‘Rattirer Shaathi (helpers of the night)’. But these will not help stem the rot and are seen as tokenism at best. That the Court had to direct the State administration to provide separate duty rooms, toilets and install CCTVs indicates that the health infrastructure is creaking. The government needs to do more to break the logjam. The doctors and students too must take the movement for justice to another level. They can resort to relay strikes, thus ensuring that a majority can return to work. In the quest for justice, doctors cannot end up being unjust to a large section of the people dependent on government hospital care. West Bengal is a poor State and when a government hospital under-performs, it affects the vulnerable the most. The government has said over six lakh patients have been turned away from government hospitals this month. Doctors refute the number, saying they are holding telemedicine services and ‘Abhaya Clinics’ on Sundays; and that senior doctors are working harder to ensure that work goes on. With the festival season around the corner, which is the chief source of revenue for a large number of people, the onus is on the government and the doctors to resolve the crisis at the earliest.

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