Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday opened the state’s purse strings to placate Bengal’s junior doctors, many of whom have been at war with her government since the rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hopsital on August 9 last year.
Addressing government hospital doctors and nursing staff at an event attended by the top brass of the state administration, Mamata assured the medical fraternity of the state government’s support.
“The salaries of interns, house staff, post-graduate trainees and post-doctoral trainees are being raised by Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000 for senior doctors. The suspension of the junior doctors at the Midnapore Medical College and Hospital is also being withdrawn,” Mamata said.
Following the rape and murder at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, many doctors had hit the streets for days demanding better security and an end to what they called the threat culture prevailing in state-run hospitals with a section of the administrative staff and doctors owing allegiance to the ruling Trinamul calling the shots.
The junior doctors at the Midnapore Medical College and Hospital were suspended following the death of expecting mothers who were allegedly administered faulty saline.
“People reach out to you when they are the most vulnerable. Even though all patients cannot be saved, good behaviour, a few words of sympathy makes them happy,” Mamata said in her speech. “The doctors’ community should be one and rise above politics. Your colour is not of politics but that of humanity and service.”
In her address Mamata said that since coming to power in 2011 her government had taken giant steps to improve the standard of service in public health care.
“The Left Front when it was in power did not pay attention to the health sector,” she declared. “The health department was run by a minister of state. After becoming the chief minister, I realised the health department needed a full time minister and kept the portfolio with myself.” ‘
However, the Left Front government did have full-time health ministers, like Prasanta Sur and Surjya Kanta Mishra.
“I had seen the gates of SSKM Hospital and Shambhunath Pandit Hospital were small. The first thing I did was to widen the gates for the patients to have easy access,” Mamata said. “We have increased the strength of doctors by 14,000, nursing staff by 25,000 and paramedics by 5,000. Patients from the adjoining states as well as northeastern states are now coming to Bengal for treatment.”
She said she was hurt when a lawyer in the Supreme Court had commented that even cotton rolls are not available in Bengal hospitals.
The chief minister also said the rules for government hospital doctors for private practice was being relaxed – now government doctors can have their private practice within a 30km radius for their hospital, up from 20km before.
“My only request to you is that you must attend to your duty at the government hospitals for eight hours. Please don’t leave deliveries and cardiac surgeries in the hands of the junior doctors,” the chief minister said.
She also announced Rs 2 crore for cultural activities at the state-run health facilities.
“Five hostels are being constructed for women doctors at Rs. 150 crore. There are several other hostels which need repair. We will take it up in phases,” Mamata said. “For security related issues I will ask Rajiv [acting director general of police Rajiv Kumar] and Manoj [Verma, Kolkata police commissioner] to take the help of ex-servicemen. The patrol vans should be more vigilant.”
Two doctors’ bodies, the Joint Platform for Doctors and the West Bengal Junior Doctors Front, have been at the forefront of the movement against the Mamata Banerjee government following the RG Kar horror.
Last month, a Kolkata court had served the life sentence to the sole accused in the case, Sanjay Roy.
“Our movement is not for increasing salaries and festival budgets,” Punyabrata Gun, co-convenor of the Joint Platform of Doctors, told The Telegraph Online. “We want to remove the ills prevailing in the healthcare system. Unless we achieve that our movement will continue.”