RG Kar case: SC hearing outcome today to determine junior doctors’ next course of action

Kolkata, Sep 30 (IANS) The outcome of the crucial hearing at the Supreme Court on Tuesday in the R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital rape-murder case will determine the next course of agitation of the junior doctors under the aegis of the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Forum (WBJDF).

“Even after the Supreme Court’s clear instructions for the state government to enhance the security at the medical colleges and hospitals in the state, our colleagues at the School of Medicine & Sagore Dutta Hospital have been assaulted by the associates of patients. While the cease-work at Sagore Dutta will continue for the time being, we are now looking forward to the observations of the Supreme Court today, following which we will be deciding our next course of agitation,” said a WBJDF representative.

The junior doctors of Sagore Dutta Hospital at Kamarhati in North 24 Parganas district have been on strike since Saturday after some junior doctors there were assaulted by the associates and family members of a woman patient, who died there on Friday night.

The protesting junior doctors claimed that the police and security personnel present there were inactive while the assault on the junior doctors was taking place in front of them.

On Saturday, the protesting junior doctors at Sagore Dutta Hospital forwarded a memorandum containing their ten-point demands. They said their cease-work would continue unless their demands were fulfilled.

A protesting junior doctor at Sagore Dutta Hospital claimed that their demands for enhanced security measures and CCTV coverage were nothing new. “But the hospital authorities and the administration had ignored our demands. Now after the attack on us, some initiatives have started to increase the number of security personnel or installation of additional CCTV machines. But to us this is just an eyewash,” he said.

Besides the hearing at the Supreme Court on Tuesday, there will be another hearing at a special court in Kolkata on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)’s appeal for narco-analysis of Sandip Ghosh, the former and controversial R.G. Kar principal and the polygraph test of Abhijit Mondal, the former SHO of Tala Police Station, under whose jurisdiction R.G. Kar comes.

–IANS

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