While addressing a doctors’ convention, organised to announce the launch of ‘Sebaashray’ health camp programme in Diamond Harbour, Banerjee in a reference to the rape and murder of a junior woman doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, said, “Bengal has been insulted, mocked using one tragic incident. Since Day 1, I have condemned this incident and I stand by my comments that those involved should be handed capital punishment. Some would like, some won’t but I remain firm on my stance. The only solution is a strong law.”
PTI reported that Banerjee said, “At a time when the country was protesting the RG Kar rape-murder, rape incidents kept occurring in every 10 minutes, according to official data… The Centre should act immediately and implement it through an ordinance if it wishes.”
Additionally, he highlighted the delay in the approval of the Aparajita Woman and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, 2024, which Abhishek claimed has been pending with the President for two months.
“If this amendment is passed, it can be implemented across the country. We have demonstrated our intent to tackle such crimes by introducing this law. I have condemned the RG Kar incident and said such perpetrators have no right to live. They should be given capital punishment,” he added.
“If the President doesn’t give assent to the Aparajita Bill, I will bring a private member’s Bill,” he added.
Banerjee announced that the Sebaashray programme aims to provide free health camps across all 7 Assembly Constituencies for 75 days, starting January 2, with 40 health camps being organised daily for 10 days in each Vidhan Sabha constituency. “The programme will begin in Diamond Harbour and continue for 70 days, covering seven constituencies. In the last five days, 280 follow-up camps will be held across these constituencies. So far, over 1,200 doctors have signed up for these camps,” he noted.
“True to his commitment, our Hon’ble MP continues to serve every individual, transcending barriers of religion and politics,” TMC posted on X.
Additionally, Banerjee revealed plans for another convention in April, which is expected to host 5,000 doctors. “We will soon hold a convention of 5,000 doctors in Kolkata before March or April. We will start our campaign from January 2. The camps will run for 10 days in each Assembly Constituency. The camp in Metiabruz will be held in mid-February. In 70 days, we will cover 7 Assembly Constituencies.”
“I am grateful to our doctor friends who have come here to attend this convention. When I started thinking about organising this event, I had a discussion with multiple people. The biggest challenge to provide medical assistance to 23 lakh people was the availability of doctors. A Lok Sabha has 2,000 booths. So given this, we got a figure of 400-500 doctors to cover the entire population. Yesterday, I found out that over 1,200 doctors have signed up for the health camps.”
The party number two and Diamond Harbour MP stated that the state government will continue to support doctors in providing public healthcare, emphasizing that doctors and the government share a common goal. He urged doctors to refrain from ceasing work, as seen in the past, to prevent even a single patient death. “But I appreciate how the doctors work under such circumstances, and our CM has allocated hundreds of crores of rupees for their safety and security,” Abhishek Banerjee said.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Abhishek Banerjee had first started a separate project catering to his constituency, commonly called — Diamond Harbour (DH) model. Reflecting on the initiative, Banerjee assured that a comprehensive account of the project’s accomplishments over the past decade is meticulously documented in his book, “Nishobdo Biplob”.
“A lot has been discussed in connection with the DH model. Even a certain section of the media also made comments on the DH model. Whatever we have done, every detail of work done in the last 10 years is given in my book that I released (Nishobdo Biplob),” he said.
— With PTI inputs