Here’s Why Bengal’s Junior Doctors Are Refusing To Resume Duties

Junior doctors from 26 government medical colleges in the state have refused to heed the Supreme Court's order and the state government's appeals to resume their duties. 

The state government invited them for talks twice, the latest invitation reaching them Wednesday (September 11) afternoon from state chief secretary Manoj Pant. 

The agitating doctors have laid down some tough pre-conditions for talks: removal of senior health department officials and the Kolkata Police commissioner, strong disciplinary action against former RG Kar Medical College principal Sandip Ghosh, identification and punishment of all those involved in the rape-murder of the post-graduate intern, enhanced security for doctors, and an end to the mess in the state’s medical education system. 

The junior doctors also want to hold talks directly with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and are insisting a large, 30-member delegation of doctors, hold talks with Banerjee. They also want the discussions to be telecast live. 

The state government will find it difficult to meet all these demands. Clearly, there is a deep trust deficit between the doctors and the state government. And it is this trust deficit that is driving the junior doctors’ stir and is the primary reason behind their refusal to resume work. 

Doctors, particularly those serving in government-run medical colleges and hospitals in Bengal, have enough reasons to distrust the Mamata Banerjee government. That’s because the Mamata Banerjee government has not only failed to provide security to doctors but has also politicised the medical education and healthcare machinery in the state. 

Here are the primary reasons why junior doctors are continuing their agitation:

No Security for Doctors

Despite many incidents of attacks on doctors in government healthcare facilities and agitations by aggrieved doctors, the state government has failed to ensure protection for doctors. 

Attacks on doctors by relatives and friends of patients continue with impunity and the guilty almost always go unpunished, which has bred a deep sense of insecurity among doctors. 

Problem with the Medical Education System

As widely reported, a deep rot induced by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) is afflicting the medical education system. 

Doctors, including junior doctors, affiliated to Bengal’s ruling party stand accused of forcing medical students and interns to join the party and extorting huge sums of money from them to pass examinations. 

There are also many allegations of sexual exploitation of both male and female students, interns and junior doctors by this powerful lobby. 

This powerful lobby of doctors had also been deciding on transfers and postings and dictating terms to even top health department officials. 

Despite all the misdeeds and corruption being exposed, the state government is reluctant to act against this lobby, for obvious reasons.

Junior doctors have rightly pointed out that simply painting hospital buildings blue and white — Mamata Banerjee’s favourite colours — does nothing to improve the deeply flawed public healthcare system. 

Government hospitals in Bengal are woefully understaffed, lack equipment and beds, face a perennial shortage of medicines and supplies, are held to ransom by touts patronised by the ruling party and are rotten to the core. 

Doctors, especially junior doctors, have to bear the brunt of public anger because of the many shortcomings of public healthcare facilities. 

Despite numerous assurances, the state government has failed to address issues and provide adequate funds to improve facilities, not only at the primary and secondary levels but also at the tertiary level. 

Shielding the Guilty

There is a strong and widespread perception not only among doctors but among the angry masses of Bengal as well, that an elaborate cover-up was executed to shield the guilty in the rape-murder case. 

It is widely believed that evidence was destroyed and the crime scene was deliberately contaminated to shield the actual culprits. 

The conduct of the police which allowed many (including doctors affiliated with the ruling party) to enter the crime scene, the way the hospital authorities treated the parents of the victims, the inordinate delay in lodging the FIR, the undue haste in conducting the autopsy and cremating the body and even the conduct of the Chief Minister has led to the belief among all sections of people in Bengal that the RG Kar authorities, the state machinery and the ruling party are shielding the guilty. 

Till heads do not roll for the many acts of prevarication and sabotage (like alleged destruction of evidence and contamination of the crime scene), no one in Bengal — including the striking junior doctors — will be satisfied.

Attempts to Malign Junior Doctors

TMC leaders have been maligning the doctors, accusing them of acting at the behest of opposition parties and of having a vested interest in continuing with their stir. 

TMC functionaries have been caught on camera issuing threats to doctors and accusing medical professionals of malpractices, graft, neglecting patients and other misdeeds. 

They have been doing this to whip up public anger against doctors. Doctors believe that the TMC is preparing to unleash its army of goons on them. 

Doctors are also very sore over the allegation made by state counsel (Kapil Sibal) before the Supreme Court earlier this week that 23 people have died due to lack of treatment (since junior doctors are on strike). They have fiercely contested this allegation and challenged the state authorities to prove it. 

The junior doctors argue that the false allegations against them are a deliberate attempt by the state government to undermine their movement and show its lack of intent to address their concerns. 

Also, it is not just the doctors who distrust the Mamata Banerjee government, the state police and the ruling party. Many sections of society, especially the urban middle class, share this distrust. Mamata Banerjee has only herself, and her minions, to blame for this.