A day after West Bengal chief minister called for an end to the two-week fast-unto-death by agitating junior medics in Kolkata, the doctors today held a mega rally to press home their 10-point demands over the rape and murder of their colleague at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
Addressing the rally at the fast-unto-death venue in Esplanade in central Kolkata, the medics said their agitation would intensify if their demands, including the removal of the state’s Health Secretary NS Nigam, were not met, reports our New Delhi correspondent.
Members of civil society groups joined the rally holding placards, lighting candles and women blowing conch shells to show solidarity with the junior doctors.
Endorsing the junior doctors’ demands, several actors from the Bengali film and television industry, including Chaiti Ghosal, Debalina Dutta, and Soumya Banerjee held a day-long hunger strike near the protest site.
Street plays, songs and recital of poems marked another protest congregation near the Academy of Fine Arts in south Kolkata, about 2km from the protest venue of junior doctors.
The protesting doctors are demanding justice for their murdered colleague and immediate removal of Nigam. Their additional demands include establishing a centralised referral system for all hospitals and medical colleges in the state, and implementing a bed vacancy monitoring system.
