A two-judge bench of Calcutta High Court, on Friday, restrained from issuing an order on the on-going strike by junior doctors but suggested the state government find out an immediate solution to the crisis that had crippled the health services across the state since Tuesday.
The doctors of the state-run hospitals began an indefinite strike on Tuesday to protest against the deadly attack on junior doctors of Nilratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital in the heart of the city by relatives and family members of a 75-year-old patient who died of a heart attack on Monday.
The doctors' strike came before the high court scanner after a charity, People for Better Treatment moved public interest litigation seeking the judiciary's intervention to end the stalemate in the state-run hospitals.
Taking up the case, the bench comprising Chief Justice T B N Radhakrishnan and Justice Suvra Ghosh wondered why the state government was sitting on the cause that had escalated worsening suffering of the people living below the poverty line.
The bench asked the state government to file an affidavit in a week stating what steps it had so far taken to solve the crisis.
"It's the duty of the government to find a way for coming out of the crisis and secure safety of the doctors when they are discharging their duty," the court observed.
The court also reminded the striking doctors of the "Hippocratic Oath" they take to ensure the welfare of all patients. The bench will hear the case further on June 21.
