Kolkata woman rape-murder: Stir already the longest-running doctors' protest since at least 1980s
Times of India | 27 August 2024
The junior doctors at RG Kar have been protesting since Aug 9 KOLKATA: The ongoing cease-work by junior doctors has already become the longing running stir on hospital campuses at least since the 1980s. While this is not the first time that junior doctors have gone on strike, seniors in the profession said none of the previous protests had continued for so long.
The junior doctors at RG Kar Medical College & Hospital had started their stir on Aug 9, the day the body of their 31-year-old colleague was found at the seminar hall.Thereafter, protests erupted at other 27 medical colleges spread over the state. Medical students in other states joined the agitation as the demand for justice grew louder. The doctors of other states resumed work after the Supreme Court appeal but the junior doctors in Bengal are yet to attend to patients.
"As far as I recollect, this is the longest agitation by junior doctors in Bengal since the 1980s. I remember the protest in 1983, when students and junior doctors of all medical colleges of the state announced a massive protest in demand for better facilities and infrastructure. It was like baptism by fire when even students jumped into the movement. It had lasted about a week," said surgical gastroenterologist Tapas Francis Biswas, a former student of RG Kar and the vice-president of the college's ex-students' association.
The longest stir by the junior doctors in recent times was in 2019 when a mob attack led to the near fatal injury to a then intern- Paribaha Mukherjee - at NRS Medical College during duty hours. Another intern, Yash Tekwani, also sustained injury in the incident, prompting a nationwide stir by other medical colleges. Many faculty members had announced their resignation in support of the junior doctors. The agitating junior doctors ended their stir when CM Mamata Banerjee intervened after a week.
"There was a protest by junior doctors and other medical students in the early 70s. It was also supported by senior doctors. It was in demand for better facilities. Back then, there was neither media support nor social media and it lasted for about 10 days. This time, the agitation is unique with support from all sections of society,," said cardiothoracic surgeon Siddhartha Chakraborty, former MSVP of Medical College Hospital, Kolkata.
Back then, Bengal had only seven undergraduate medical colleges. The number has now increased to 28. The junior doctors across the 28 medical colleges have formed the West Bengal Junior Doctors' Front for coordination in their movement.
"The issue this time involves a very sensitive crime. It is also bringing to the fore the academic and financial irregularities in medical institutes. This movement is different from the earlier ones," said physiology professor Arnab Sengupta of IPGMER.