Aniket Mahato, a junior doctor who has been on hunger strike for several days, was rushed to R G Kar Medical College and Hospital on Thursday due to deteriorating health. He is currently under critical care in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

The West Bengal Junior Doctors Front has called for an even more vigorous movement in response to Mahato’s condition. Debashis Halder, speaking on behalf of the junior doctors’ meeting platform, urged civil society to stand in “solidarity” with their cause. A rally has been scheduled for Friday afternoon near the Dharmatala hunger strike site.

Halder said that the junior doctors’ ten-point demands are “not merely for their benefit” but to prevent incidents similar to the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at R G Kar Hospital on August 9 from happening. “Our comrades have risked their lives for these demands,” he said. “We want everyone to unite in solidarity with them.”

Dr. Soma Mukherjee, CCU in-charge and Head of the Department of Anaesthesia at R G Kar Medical College, confirmed that a medical board has been formed to oversee Mahato’s treatment. “We have just started the treatment,” she said.

After a meeting between the agitators and the government on Wednesday, the protesters expressed dissatisfaction with the government’s response, claiming that they were only offered “verbal assurance without any concrete solutions”. Junior doctors reiterated that they would not end the hunger strike until their demands were met.