Doctors of medical colleges and hospital in West Bengal on Friday offered to resign en masse in support of the protesting junior doctors of the State.
The first to offer their resignation were principal and medical superintendent and vice-principal of Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital (NRSMCH), which has been the epicentre of the protests.
The resignation of Saibal Kumar Mukherjee (principal) and Saurabh Chattopadhyay (medical superintendent and vice-principal) was hailed by the protesting junior doctors. In their resignation letters, both the doctors expressed their regret “for being unable to overcome the crisis prevailing at the NRS Medical College”.
Reports of the en mass resignation of senior doctors have come from hospitals and medical colleges and hospitals in the city and districts.
Several doctors of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata also offered to quit. “We have resigned owing to the indifferent attitude of our Chief Minister... We feel that the Chief Minister has made us scapegoats before the people. We want unconditional apology from the Chief Minister,” said a doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital holding his resignation letter. He claimed that 69 senior doctors of the hospital had tendered their resignation. There are reports of resignation from the Sagar Dutta Medical College and Hospital and North Bengal Medical College and Hospital also.
Meanwhile, Director of Medical Education Pradip Kumar Mitra has written a letter to the principal and the directors of all medical colleges hospital asking them to resume work immediately.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also made a similar appeal on Thursday. The situation in hospitals and medical colleges across the State remained same, with services in many hospitals remaining affected. The out-patient departments of most of the State-run hospitals remained closed.
Earlier in the day, film director Aparna Sen, actor Kaushik Sen and music director Debojyoti Mishra met protesting junior doctors at the NRSMCH and offered their support.
Ms. Sen said that Chief Minister should visit the hospital and speak to the protesting doctors. The delegation of intellectuals urged the protesting doctors to try other means of protests so that patients did not suffer. “I have not come here as a government representative but as a citizen... Some solution has to be reached and it is for you people to decide,” Ms. Sen told the doctors.
