Agitating medics reach Bengal secretariat to hold meeting with govt

A group of agitating junior doctors on Wednesday evening reached the West Bengal state secretariat Nabanna to hold the second round of talks with the government to resolve the impasse due to the RG Kar issue.

Escorted by a pilot police vehicle, the delegation of around 30 medics reached the secretariat around 7.15 pm.

They will hold a meeting with Chief Secretary Manoj Pant.

"We want the issue of safety and security in hospitals to be addressed. The chief minister had announced the formation of a task force, but there is no clarity on it. We want the state government to accept our legitimate demands," an agitating doctor said before leaving for the meeting venue.

The West Bengal government on Wednesday invited the junior doctors agitating over the RG Kar rape-murder incident for a meeting at the state secretariat at 6.30 pm, responding to their request for a fresh round of talks.

The scheduled meeting would be the second round of talks between the medics and the state government in 48 hours, the first of which was held in the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday.

Junior doctors agitating over RG Kar rape-murder on Wednesday said they would continue their sit-in and not join duty, despite the state appointing Manoj Kumar Verma as the new Kolkata Police chief, replacing Vineet Goyal, and removing two senior health department officials, giving in to the medics' earlier demands.

According to a statement issued following the conclusion of their general body meeting, which had started around 6.30 pm on Tuesday and went on till well past midnight, the protestors called the state's administrative measures "only partial victory" of their movement.

The doctors demanded the removal of state Health Secretary NS Nigam, saying they were assured by Banerjee of action on it during the talks on Monday.