• Minutes of meeting with CM incomplete: Jr doctors write to Chief Secy; seek meeting with Task Force
    Indian Express | 9 November 2024
  • In a letter to state Chief Secretary Manoj Pant, the protesting junior doctors on Wednesday said that the official minutes of their meeting with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on October 21, is incomplete as it does not mention about the key decisions including the formation of a Resident Doctor Association (RDA) in each medical college of the state.

    While they have demanded that “a rectified Record of Discussions be communicated” to them mentioning the same, the doctors have also sought a meeting of the State Task Force (STF) to discuss all the issues pertaining to the state healthcare system and proper implementation of effective measures for improving safety and security in hospitals.

    “We are in receipt of the Record of Discussions of the meeting that took place with the Hon’ble Chief Minister at Nabanna Sabhaghar with junior doctors held on 21/10/2024 reflecting assurances given during the meeting. It is, however, pointed out that while a specific demand was raised, and discussed, as to formation of Resident Doctors’ Associations (RDAs) in each medical college of the State, the said demand has not been included in the Record of Discussions as communicated to us,” the junior doctors wrote.

    Stating that the official minutes is incomplete the protesting junior doctors wrote, “While the record of discussions includes an assurance that elections of the Students’ Unions in respective colleges would be conducted by March 2025, though no specific timeline has been indicated in this regard, the formation of RDAs is essential to a proper representation in the various committees as students and resident doctors are the two crucial stakeholders in every medical college. The Record of Discussion in this regard, therefore, is incomplete.”

    The doctors, while reiterating their demands, sought fully functional RDAs in every college and that the representatives should be included in various committees, similar to how Students’ Unions are formed.

    Expressing their concerns, the junior doctors pointed out that despite promises to prioritize safety and security, many medical colleges still lack adequate measures, including sufficient security personnel and the patrolling teams — “Winners team” and “Shakti team” — have yet to materialize in most medical colleges.

    In addition, despite numerous requests, the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for hospital security measures, pledged by the Director General of Police, remains absent from our email.

    They further pointed out that they have not received any communication on their suggestions, sent through e-mail, on the issues of real-time digitalized bed vacancy and Central Referral System.

    “… till now we haven’t received any communication from you… regarding the much needed meeting of the State Task Force (STF). No ToR (Terms of Reference) has been published regarding the college level stakeholders committee yet, though we specifically discussed that in our meeting. No meeting of the college level stakeholders committee has been held since 21st October in any college.

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