Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday night agreed to remove Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal, Deputy Commissioner (North) Abhishek Gupta and two senior health officials after a meeting with the protesting junior medics at her residence here.
However, the doctors later said they would continue their cease work and sit-in protest outside the health department headquarters Swasthya Bhavan till the government implanted the decisions.
Banerjee, describing the over two-hour meeting as fruitful, said a new CP would be named after 4 PM on Tuesday. Goyal will be given a new assignment.
She said there will be a reshuffle in the police department.
Acceding to another demand from the junior doctors of government medical colleges, who have been on a cease work protest since the alleged rape and murder of a lady medic in her workplace – the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital – Banerjee said the Director of Health Services and the Director of Medical Education would also be removed.
Concerning the demand of the junior doctors that justice be given to their deceased colleague, Banerjee pointed out that the case was now being investigated by the federal agency Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
“The state government will provide all necessary assistance as required for expediting the completion of the inquiry and justice to the deceased,” read the minutes of the meeting signed by Chief Secretary Manoj Pant and representatives of the West Bengal Junior Doctors Front, who attended the deliberations.
Banerjee also said safety and security in the workplace of the medics would be ensured
“Rs. 100 crores have been sanctioned for hospital infrastructure like CCTV, washrooms etc, which will be formalised in close consultation with the medical fraternity. The composition of the Rogi Kalyan Samity (Patients’ Welfare Committee) will be revised to make it more inclusive through the inclusion of all stakeholders,” according to the minutes.
The state government also proposed that a Task Force headed by the Chief Secretary and including the Home Secretary, the DG Police and CP Kolkata as well as representatives of the junior doctors will look into the related matters.
“An effective and responsive grievance redressal mechanism will be put in place in the medical infrastructure across hospitals and colleges,” the meeting decided.
It was jointly resolved to work in close coordination to discuss and resolve all issues faced by the medical fraternity at the level of the Chief Secretary.
During the meeting, the chief minister requested the junior doctors to resume their duties.
Regarding the medics’ demand for removing the state health secretary Narayan Nigam, the CM told the doctors that removing him would create a vacuum in the health department as two senior officials were already being shunted out.
The junior doctors have been holding the sit-in protest outside the Swasthya Bhavan since Tuesday last.
The medics said several of the issues were settled, but there were more things to be achieved.
“The government has been forced to accept a number of our demands. This is a victory of the common people, doctors, and nursing staff. We thank everybody for standing by our protest like a rock. But we will continue our protest till the government enforces the decisions taken at the meeting,” said Debasish Haldar, one of the protestors.
The medic said they would also monitor the Supreme Court hearing on the matters linked to the rape and murder which is scheduled for Tuesday. “After the hearing, and once the government issues orders implementing the decisions of themeeting, we will discuss everything in our general body meeting and arrive at a decision”.
Earlier, the medics had put a dissenting note in the minutes as the government did not agree to their demand for removing the state Health Secretary and the Deputy Commissioner (Central) of Kolkata police.
“WBJDF representatives expressed disagreements with regard to no disciplinary actions against DC Central and transfer of Health Secretary. As regards ensuring safety and security, it was intimated by WBJDF that further discussions regarding specific formulations of the same will be required.
“It was also proposed that the existing threat culture prevalent in the medical colleges can be removed after further deliberations through specific formulations (democratically
elected students unions and RDAs etc),” read the minutes.
