Kolkata: As the West Bengal junior doctors' fast unto death entered the ninth day, a group of 77 senior doctors at JNM Hospital in Kalyani of Nadia stepped down from their posts in yet another instance of mass resignation.
Their step came a day after the Mamata Banerjee government rejected the ‘mass resignation’ trend among the senior doctors in support of their juniors’ agitation.
The 77 doctors informed in an email to the Registrar of West Bengal Health University on Sunday that they would cease work starting October 14. They cited “mental devastation” and their “inability to work in the current state of mind”.
The doctors also expressed solidarity with junior doctors who have been on a fast-unto-death in Kolkata, drawing attention to the worsening health of the protesters.
Their demands include the immediate removal of state health secretary N.S. Nigam, enhanced workplace security, and swift action from the state government, which they criticised for its “apparent lack of visible effort” to resolve the crisis.
The JNM doctors have set October 14 as the deadline for the authorities to address their concerns, warning they will formally resign if no action is taken.
Meanwhile another junior doctor who was on fast-unto-death protest along with others at Esplanade in the city was rushed to hospital after he fell ill.
Anustup Mukhopadhyay, a post-graduate trainee at Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, was the first among the six junior doctors from different medical colleges and hospitals, who launched the hunger strike on October 5.
He is also the second junior doctor undergoing a fast-unto-death protest to be hospitalised. Earlier Aniket Mahato, a post-graduate trainee posted with the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, was hospitalised. Meanwhile, a group of intellectuals wrote to chief minister Mamata Banerjee for her intervention to meet the junior doctors' demands.
