KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Friday refused to intervene in the ongoing doctors’ strike in West Bengal and advised the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government in the state to persuade the medical practitioners to re-join work.
As many as 300 doctors, 119 from North Bengal Medical College & Hospital, Darjeeling, alone have resigned over violence against doctors in the state.Across the country, medical practitioners took out protest marches and held sit-in agitations in solidarity with West Bengal doctors.
Meanwhile, doctors of AIIMS Delhi on Saturday called off their protest in solidarity with Bengal doctors and gave a 48-hour ultimatum to Mamata Banerjee to take swift action and resolve the ongoing dispute.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has called a nationwide strike on June 17 to demand safe working conditions for doctors across the country.
The striking doctors are getting support from the fellow colleagues in other parts of the country including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Kerala, Bhopal, Odisha and Jharkhand.
On Friday, the striking doctors refused to meet the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee following her invitation to them to break the stand-off.
Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan on Saturday has written a letter to Chief Ministers of all the states demanding tough action against any person who attacks the doctors henceforth.
Dr Harsh has also forwarded the Draft Act provided by IMA i.e. the Protection of Medical Service Persons and Medical Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage or Loss of Property) Act, 2017 to the States to inform them about the same.
The AIIMS Resident Doctors’ Association issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the West Bengal government to end the stalemate, failing which they also would join the indefinite strike.The government of India is seriously concerned over the prevalent situation in West Bengal, it said.
