Kolkata, June 15: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday cancelled her meeting with Dr Paribaha Mukhopadhyay who was injured in an attack by a patient's relatives at NRS Medical College and Hospital. Mamata Banerjee was to meet Paribaha Mukhopadhyay in a bid to resolve the stalemate with junior doctors who have been on strike since Tuesday.
Mukhopadhyay sustained a serious skull injury in the attack and was admitted in the intensive care unit of the Institute of Neurosciences in Kolkata's Park Circus area. Banerjee was supposed to be briefed about the junior doctor's health condition. The chief minister, however, cancelled her meeting with him after the striking doctors declined the state government's invitation for talks. Patients Suffer As Nationwide Agitation Cripples Medical Services Across India.
The Chief Minister's secretariat invited four members of the striking junior doctors for talks following an intervention by five senior doctors led by Sukumar Mukherjee who called on Banerjee at Nabanna and offered to mediate in the matter. However, the agitating doctors declined the invitation. After the offer was declined, the talks were deferred till 5 pm on Saturday, so as to give the quintet of veterans time enough to persuade the medicos to attend the meeting. Doctors' Strike: IMA Calls For 3-Day Stir, Nationwide Strike on June 17 to Protest Against Attacks on Medicos.
However, the striking doctors remained firm on their demands. "We want an urgent solution to this situation. We shall resume our duties as soon as our demands for proper security and safety at workplace are met. We humbly request the Chief Minister to meet all of us at NRS Medical College and Hospital and discuss and implement all our demands at the earliest," said Abhishek Sarkar, an intern at the College, reading out a statement by the agitating doctors after their General Body meeting.
Apart from Mukhopadhyay, one Yash Tekwani was also injured in the attack by relatives of an elderly patient who died allegedly due to medical negligence. Meanwhile, health services in West Bengal's state-run hospitals remained partially disrupted on Saturday as the "cease work" by junior doctors, protesting against attacks on their colleagues and demanding adequate security measures, continued for the fifth day.
Though the out-patient departments remained closed, the emergency services in all the state-run hospitals, including the NRS, were functional on Saturday, doctors said.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 15, 2019 04:32 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).