Formation of RDAs not mentioned: Junior doctors write to Bengal chief secretary Manoj Pant
Telegraph | 7 November 2024
The Junior Doctors’ Front e-mailed Bengal’s chief secretary Manoj Pant on Tuesday saying some of the points discussed at the meeting with chief minister Mamata Banerjee on October 21 were not mentioned in a memorandum of the meeting that has been sent to them.
The mail said the memorandum did not mention anything about elections to form resident doctors’ associations in medical colleges, though the issue was discussed in the meeting.
The email said the “Formation of resident doctors’ associations (RDAs) in each medical college of the State...has not been included in the records of discussion”.
“The state should create an enabling environment for fully functional RDAs in every college and include its representatives in various committees in the same manner as students’ unions are being formed. It is utmost necessary for their on-ground functioning that respective colleges provide consent for using their addresses for the purposes of registration of the RDAs in every college,” the email said.
Rumelika Kumar, a junior doctor, said despite two weeks since the meeting with Mamata, very little has moved on the ground.
“We can see delays about matters that were discussed... RDA is important as it is the only way through which threat culture can be stopped. A representative from the RDA and students’ union can participate in the decision-making bodies such as Rogi Kalyan Samity and college council,” said Kumar, a postgraduate trainee at All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health.
The email also questioned why all the reports about enquiries conducted by principals have to be forwarded to the chief secretary.
“There is no justification that while taking action on a complaint, an onerous condition is being placed for forwarding of the report to the chief secretary for final decision... action ought to be taken by the principal/head of institution and the report ought to be forwarded to the National Medical Council, which is the regulatory authority,” it said.
The email also stated that the colleges were yet to form college-level grievance redressal cells — a demand of the junior doctors.
Beefing up security at medical colleges, another demand of the junior doctors, is yet to be done, the email alleged.