Some more protesting junior doctors at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital resumed work on Wednesday, carrying forward a trend that started on Tuesday.
A second-year MBBS student — who had joined the strike that started a fortnight ago to press for the removal of the principal and other demands — took ill on Wednesday.
Sk Rajkumar, a resident of Burdwan, was admitted to the medicine ward of the hospital, protesting doctors said.
A few interns and postgraduate trainees from the medicine, orthopedics and general surgery departments resumed duty on Tuesday. Some more from the three departments and the gynaecology and paediatric departments did so on Wednesday.
The resumption of duty followed a meeting between representatives of the doctors on strike and five senior doctors of the hospital, who are also members of a mentor group set up to end the impasse.
The mentor group visited the hospital’s wards on Wednesday to check on the absentees.
The state health department had on Monday directed the heads of all departments of the north Kolkata medical college to draw up a list of interns and postgraduate trainees who had joined the strike and send it to the medical superintendent.
The interns and trainees would be marked “absent” while preparing a fresh roster to ensure that services were not hampered at the hospital, an official of the health department had said.
“The absentees could have problems while appearing for exams. Since health is an emergency service, they can also be booked under the pandemic act,” said a member of the mentor group.
Members of the group, however, sounded hopeful that more agitating doctors would resume work on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the authorities reiterated to the agitating doctors that many of their demands would be addressed but only after they resumed duty. But they also made it clear that the removal of the principal was not for the students to decide.
