On 10 June 2019, an incident occurred at the Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital (NRSMCH) in West Bengal that has stirred the entire nation. Two junior doctors at the NRS Hospital were brutally assaulted on Monday night by the family members of a patient who died during treatment due to alleged negligence. This sparked massive outrage in the medical community as doctors all over West Bengal and other states went on strike to protest against the violence faced by their counterparts as the NRS hospital. The protesting doctors argued that if the ones saving people could not be guaranteed safety, then how they could be expected to continue their services.
Doctors all over India participated in the symbolic protests by wearing red-stained bandages and helmets. On Thursday, Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee addressed the protesting doctors at the SSKM Hospital in Kolkata. However, instead of listening to their demands, she issued a ‘get back to work’ ultimatum, ordering the withdrawal of protests, otherwise they would face severe consequences. Over the past few days, more than 500 government-employed doctors resigned in the state.
Although some emergency and ICU services are open, most hospitals in the state have not been accepting or treating patients for the past 4-5 days. These strikes have created absolute chaos for the ailing patients lined up outside hospitals in West Bengal.
The protesters presented 6 major demands to the CM Banerjee, including an unconditional apology for her SSKM Hospital statements, increased security for doctors, punishment for the NRS Hospital attackers, a centralized Doctors Protection Act, and better facilities and equipment.
After 5 days of strikes and agitated junior doctors’ refusal to accept CM Banerjee’s invitations for a meeting, Banerjee held a press conference on Saturday evening. She promised to accept all the demands of the protesting junior doctors, but urged them to immediately rejoin service to help the thousands of patients suffering without treatment. Banerjee declared that her government would bear the medical expenses of the junior doctor injured in the attack.
The nation waits and watches how exactly Mamata’s government will handle this crisis. We only hope that the medical situation in Bengal improves quickly, innocent patients get the required treatment without suffering much longer, and justice is served to the sick man’s saviors.
SUMANT S. DANGI
Correspondent, Renesa
This article was originally written for and published on Renesa – The Official Media and Publication House of NIT Surat. It was originally titled “When the Saviors Need Saving”.
