Kolkata, Sep 11 (UNI) The West Bengal government on Wednesday evening rejected the proposal of the agitating junior doctors to hold conditional talks and reminded them of the Supreme Court order asking the medics to resume work in government hospitals.
Addressing the media at the state secretariat Nabanna, junior health minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said the government is willing to hold open and candid discussions with the medics so as to thrash out a positive solution for restoring normalcy in the hospitals. However, the authorities were in no mood to have conditional talk.
Bhattacharya, during the joint media conference with chief secretary Manoj Pant and Director General of Police Rajiv Kumar, said the doctors' demand for conditional talks was "politically motivated".
"I urge the doctors not to fall into the trap of any political party and rather come to the discussion table with an open mind as the government is committed to abide by the supreme Court order asking the junior doctors to resume work," Bhattacharya clarified.
The chief secretary and the DGP said they were ready to ensure safety and security in the workplaces of the medics.
The government's clarification came after the junior doctors set fresh terms, including the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and live telecast of proceedings, for accepting the government’s invitation for joining the talks to end their month-long cease-work in medical colleges.
Pant invited the protestig doctors in black and white to the state secretariat Nabanna for talks, the agitators demanded that they should be allowed to send a delegation of 30 protesters. Pant, however, had invited a 15-member team.
The medics said the government in the invitation mentioned that the doctors' delegation should not exceed 15 members, but there are 26 medical colleges in the state, each of which wants to send at least one representative for the talks.
The doctors also stuck to their demand for resignation of Kolkata police chief before joining the talks to end the stalemate at the government medical colleges in protest against a young medic’s alleged rape and murder at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on Auguust 9.
The medics' other demands include resignation of state’s principal health secretary and his two deputies, resignation of two deputy police commissioners of North and Central Kolkata, arrest of those involved in the rape and murder of young lady medic and safety and security for doctors at government hospitals.
Earlier, Pant wrote a letter to the protesting junior doctors inviting them to come to the state secretariat for talks to end their indefinite cease-work.
The letter was in response to an email sent by the protesting medics to the chief minister’s office (CMO) at 3.49 am expressing their desire to meet Mamata Banerjee to end the logjam.
Pant’s letter did talk about the doctors’ demands but referred to Monday's Supreme Court order directing the junior medics to resume work by 5 pm on Tuesday – a deadline which the doctors have not followed.
The medics, under the umbrella of West Bengal Junior Doctors Front, on Tuesday refused to go to the secretariat following an invitation from the principal health secretary.
Later, Chandrima Bhattacharya said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee left her chamber at 7.30 pm on Tuesday
after waiting for the doctors who did not turn up for talks. UNI PC SSP