Kolkata Rape Case Updates: CJI Directs Submission Of NTF Progress Report, Posts Hearing To October 14
Junior doctors in West Bengal have announced that they would decide on resuming their total ‘cease work’ in medical colleges after assessing the state government’s assurances regarding their safety and security at workplaces.
This decision will follow the hearing of the RG Kar case in the Supreme Court on September 30, Monday. The petitioners in the case have raised alarming concerns regarding the “threat culture” within state government-run medical colleges and hospitals.
They contend that widespread issues such as the sale of examination keys, bribery, corruption, and the sexual harassment and abuse of medical students and junior doctors are prevalent.
The court has acknowledged the seriousness of these allegations, saying that if even a portion of them is true, it would treat them with utmost seriousness.
On September 21, junior doctors partially resumed their duties at various government-run hospitals in West Bengal after a 42-day hiatus. They had been on ‘cease work’ to protest the rape-murder of a woman doctor on duty at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
On Thursday, junior doctors sent an email to Chief Secretary Manoj Pant, reiterating their demands that the state government had “yet to fulfill.”
In the two-page letter, representatives of the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Forum referenced their meeting with Pant at the state secretariat on September 18, during which their demands were “verbally agreed upon.”
Junior doctors from various government hospitals in West Bengal, along with other citizens, carried out torch rallies across the state on Sunday.
The rallies took place at several locations, such as RG Kar Hospital, Sagore Dutta Hospital, SSKM Hospital, Calcutta Medical College, and Jadavpur in south Kolkata.
Organised by the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front – an umbrella group representing medics from various medical college hospitals in the state – the rallies also highlighted the need to end a “threat culture” in medical colleges, where students reportedly face intimidation.