Agitating junior docs agree to talks, 30-member team to meet Mamata

Welcoming the Bengal government's “positive response” to hold talks in the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to resolve the RG Kar Hospital impasse, agitating junior doctors on Thursday announced their decision to attend the proposed meeting at the state secretariat within the stipulated time of 5 pm.

The medics, however, declared that they would stick to their original demand of taking part in the meeting with 30 members instead of 15 people as mandated by the state government.

The protesters also stated they would not settle for anything less than a live stream of the talks, which had earlier been rejected by the state chief secretary in its latest invitation for the meeting.

“We welcome the chief secretary's invitation and confirmation that the CM would be present at the meeting. We will attend the meeting with an open mind, but it has to be centred around the issue of providing justice to our colleague and ensuring security for doctors across the state,” a protesting doctor said.

The junior doctors said they had replied to the state government's email confirming their attendance at the meeting around 3.45 pm.

“There are doctors from 26 medical colleges in the state who are participating in this protest movement. Even if we choose one member from each college, it is not possible to have a delegation of less than 30 people,” the medic said and confirmed that they have already arranged a bus for transporting the delegation to the secretariat.

The doctors insisted on having a live stream of the proceedings of the proposed meeting on grounds that they “have nothing to hide”.

“Moreover, thousands of junior doctors are simultaneously holding protests in far-flung districts of Bengal. They should know what is happening at the meeting. If the CM can hold her administrative meetings in districts on live TV and if Supreme Court proceedings can be telecast live, we see no reason why the same can't happen here,” the doctor said.

Earlier on Thursday, the West Bengal government gave a 5 pm slot for a meeting to end the impasse, but rejected the protesters' demand for live telecast of the talks.

This is the third offer from the state government for talks in the last two days, with the agitators rejecting the previous two proposals and setting concrete conditions for the meet.