Vardhan urges docs to resume work, appeals to WB CM to put 'amicable end' to stir

In the wake of protests by the medical fraternity in support of agitating doctors in Kolkata, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan Friday urged West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to not make this sensitive matter a "prestige issue" while asking her to ensure an "amicable end" to the stir.

In a letter to Banerjee, the Union minister urged her to ensure an "amicable end" to the protests and provide a secure working environment for doctors.

He also appealed to the agitating doctors, particularly in West Bengal, to hold symbolic protests and resume work so that patients do not suffer.

"Doctors should resort to other simple and symbolic ways of protest. As medical professionals, their duty is towards protecting the rights of their patients. Strike is certainly not the best way to protest. Patients should not be deprived of immediate and emergency healthcare facilities," the Union health minister said.

Junior doctors in West Bengal are on a strike since Tuesday after two of their colleagues were attacked and seriously injured allegedly by the relatives of a patient who died at NRS Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.

"Despite getting beaten up so badly, doctors have only asked her (Mamata Banerjee) to provide them adequate security and also demanded action against the perpetrators of the violence as per the law," Vardhan said.

"But instead of doing that, she warned them and gave an ultimatum which angered doctors across the country and they proceeded on strike.

"So if the chief minister acts in a sensitive manner in such a grave scenario, patients across the country will not suffer. I plead to the West Bengal chief minister to not make this an issue of prestige," he said.

He assured doctors that the government is committed to ensuring their safety and urged them to ensure that essential services are not disrupted.

A delegation of Resident Doctors Association of AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, United Resident and Doctors Association of India (URDA) and Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA), met Vardhan and gave a representation to him on the violence against doctors in West Bengal.

Expressing deep concern, Vardhan said, "I strongly condemn the unruly behaviour and assault on doctors. I will discuss it with the chief minister of Bengal."
Doctors under the banner of the Resident Doctors' Association (RDA) held out marches in the AIIMS campus, with many wearing bandages on their foreheads while some worked wearing helmets. Resident doctors of the Safdarjung Hospital also took out protests in their campus