Why Mass Resignation Of Senior Doctors Is Unlikely To Compel Bengal Government To Meet All Their Demands

More than 50 senior doctors of RG Kar Medical College Hospital resigned en masse on Tuesday (8 October) in a show of solidarity with their junior colleagues who are demanding the implementation of their ten-point charter of demands. 

The resignations, though invalid since they do not meet the norms, are meant to mount pressure on the state government to meet the demands of the junior doctors. Seven junior doctors from various state-run medical college hospitals are on a fast-unto-death, which has entered its fifth day Wednesday (9 October).

The senior doctors have warned that if the state government does not announce its acceptance of all the demands of the junior doctors, they will send in their individual resignations to the state health department as per norms. 

Faculty members of two other state-run medical colleges — Medical College Hospital Kolkata (MCHK) and the Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education & Research (IPGMER) — also set a 24 deadline to the state government to meet the demands of the junior doctors. 

They have warned that if the state government fails to act by the deadline, which expires Wednesday evening, they will submit their individual resignations to the health department. Faculty members of another state-run institution, NRS Medical College Hospital in Kolkata, have indicated they will do the same.

If senior doctors in these hospitals resign, Bengal's public healthcare system could collapse, plunging the state into a serious crisis. 

However, the Mamata Banerjee government is unlikely to meet all the demands of the junior doctors, as some — such as disbanding bodies like the West Bengal Medical Council (WBMC) and the West Bengal Health Recruitment Board (WBHRB), launching inquiries into them, holding student union elections in medical colleges, recognizing resident doctors' associations, and setting up task forces — would severely impact the partisan interests of the Trinamool Congress. 

The WBMC and WBHRB are tightly controlled by doctors affiliated with the Trinamool. Serious allegations of corruption and malfeasance have been raised against these bodies, which are accused of holding doctors who don't align with the ruling party's agenda to ransom. 

Doctors — both seniors and juniors — want these two bodies dissolved and reconstituted with prominent and independent senior doctors who are not affiliated to any political party. But the Trinamool Congress does not want to even loosen its grip on these two bodies which, allege doctors, are ‘dens of corruption and immorality.’ 

Holding elections to students’ unions in medical colleges will also be a self-defeating move for the ruling party in the state. It is quite certain that Trinamool-backed candidates will face crushing defeats and that will deal a blow to the party’s image. 

That is why Mamata Banerjee is reluctant to hold elections to students’ unions in medical colleges. She knows very well that a majority of medical students are anti-Trinamool and when her party’s candidates lose in the elections, the image of the party will suffer terribly. 

The same is the reason for the state government’s refusal to accord recognition to resident doctors’ associations. These associations have resisted Trinamool’s repeated attempts to control them and are, in fact, quite anti-Trinamool. 

Another demand of the junior doctors that the state government is reluctant to accept is the immediate filling up of hundreds of vacancies (of doctors, nurses and other medical staff) in government-run hospitals in the state. A huge number of faculty positions in government medical colleges are also lying vacant. 

But the state government will find it very difficult to meet this demand because it will inflate the salary bill of the health department. It is well known that Bengal is facing a huge financial crisis and its coffers are nearly empty. 

This is why recruiting doctors, including high-paid faculty members in medical colleges, will be particularly challenging for the cash-strapped state government. 

Another demand the Bengal government is unlikely to meet is the removal of Narayan Swaroop Nigam, the principal secretary of the health department. The IAS officer, known to be close to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, is perceived by doctors as having colluded with former RG Kar Medical College principal Sandip Ghosh. 

Mamata Banerjee, who also holds the health portfolio, has Nigam reporting directly to her. As one of her favoured bureaucrats, she has refused to remove him. 

Banerjee conceded to the junior doctors' demands by dismissing other officials, including Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal. However, she has firmly refused to consider Nigam's removal. 

Junior doctors are also demanding the formation of task forces, comprising both senior and junior doctors, in all medical college hospitals to oversee the state government's implementation of concrete measures ensuring the safety and security of medical students and doctors. 

This demand is also facing resistance from the state government, as it could expose them to accusations of delaying action on their assurances. 

The Supreme Court has already reprimanded the Bengal government for the slow implementation of safety measures, including the installation of CCTV cameras, on-call rooms, and adequate washrooms for doctors on duty. 

While the state government has committed to implementing these safety measures, it is unwilling to allow a task force of doctors to oversee the process, as it does not want to concede any ground to the junior doctors. 

According to close aides of Mamata Banerjee, she is not particularly concerned about the senior doctors' threat to resign. 

“Even if they send in their resignations individually in the prescribed formats, they will have to continue in their posts till the state government accepts their resignations. The state government is within its right to turn down their resignations citing public interest,” a senior Trinamool Congress functionary who is also a Rajya Sabha MP told Swarajya. 

However, refusing to accept their resignations may lead the senior doctors to initiate a strike or a work-to-rule agitation. Such actions could severely impact healthcare services and escalate tensions between the Trinamool Congress government and the medical fraternity.