Doctors on Strike:The Tension Builds, But Focus Remains on Demands
Junior and senior doctors in Kolkata are set to go on a full-scale strike, demanding that the government address their 10-point agenda. The strike is scheduled for Tuesday, following a meeting where the doctors discussed emergency services and voiced concerns about ongoing hunger strikes.
There’s no need to fret over hunger strike, not for now at least. Junior doctors are making their priorities crystal clear, and their main focus is firmly on getting their demands met. On Friday, they made this quite apparent during a meeting with senior doctors, hammering the point home with all the tact of a sledgehammer.
In a gathering held at the General Lecture Theatre of Kolkata Medical College, junior and senior doctors met on Friday evening to discuss their future plans. After much deliberation, it was decided that a full-fledged strike would be called for Tuesday, should the government fail to meet their demands by Monday. And we’re not talking about a polite, under-the-radar affair – no, it’s going to be an all-out strike involving both junior and senior doctors. There was much chatter about emergency services, though no firm decision was reached. After all, when it comes to the health of patients, playing a game of ‘who blinks first’ is always a tricky business.
The elephant in the room, of course, was the recent private meeting between senior doctor Narayan Bandopadhyay and TMC leader Kunal Ghosh – a tête-à-tête that didn’t go unnoticed by the juniors, who didn’t seem particularly chuffed about it.
Time to Turn Up the Heat
During the three-hour chinwag, the trajectory of the strike was more or less sorted. The juniors had invited the seniors for a little heart-to-heart, following some murmurs that the seniors weren’t exactly pulling their weight in the protest. Sure, they might support the cause in principle, but their actions weren’t exactly making the government sit up and take notice. Yes, a few senior doctors had handed in their resignations, but these were largely symbolic gestures – nothing to send shockwaves through the corridors of power.
The meeting saw representatives from various senior doctors’ organisations giving their two cents on how to carry the movement forward. It was the juniors, though, who proposed the idea of a full-on strike, with the others nodding along in agreement.
The Hunger Games: Emergency Edition
As the conversation meandered, some seniors voiced concerns about the hunger strikers’ health. However, the juniors were quick to make their stance clear: while the hunger strike is all well and good, they’d rather focus on their ten-point demands. Frankly, they’d rather not get bogged down in ‘what ifs’ about the future of the hunger strike – after all, who’s got time for that when there are demands to be met?
That said, the issue of emergency services on the day of the strike was raised, with some seniors wondering aloud whether it would be morally justifiable to turn away critically ill patients. The juniors, however, were having none of it, with one spokesperson, Debashis Haldar, stating, “If anyone dies during the strike, that’s on the government.” Strong words indeed, though many are hoping that Monday might see a last-minute intervention from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Rebels Without a Pause
The meeting wasn’t short of suggestions – one bright spark even proposed a Bengal-wide bandh, while others thought it might be a good idea to gherao administrative buildings, health ministry included. Then there was the proposal to go down the legal route, though that didn’t quite gain unanimous approval. The juniors, it seems, are well aware of the legal hurdles that might crop up along the way and would prefer not to go there just yet.
Of course, the issue of justice for the female doctor who faced harassment at RG Kar Medical College was also raised. Some wondered if the movement had veered off course, but the juniors reassured everyone that their demands, including addressing the ‘threat culture’ in hospitals, were still very much aligned with the original cause.
The final point of contention, however, was the meeting between senior doctor Narayan Bandopadhyay and TMC leader Kunal Ghosh. It didn’t sit well with the juniors, who felt a tad sidelined. The consensus at the meeting was that personal meetings like this were not the way forward. No, the movement would proceed in unity, and there would be no more solo efforts to resolve the doctors’ issues.
In the end, both juniors and seniors agreed on one thing – they’d better be careful not to let any whiff of division creep into the public eye. After all, they didn’t want anyone thinking that there was any real ‘us and them’ between the two groups. And when the time came, it was the juniors who would step forward and make the official announcements.
What's Your Reaction?
