The impasse between Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee and protesting doctors at Swasthya Bhawan was broken after yesterday's meeting at the CM's residence in Kalighat.
The minutes of the meeting, which were agreed upon instead of live-streaming and recording the meeting, have been made public and here are the highlights:
1) Regarding actions against Kolkata Police, the transfer of Commissioner of Police (CP) and Deputy Commissioner (DC) was agreed upon
2) Transfer for the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) and Director of Health Services (DHS) agreed upon
3) Rs 10 crore sanctioned for hospital infrastructure including CCTVs, washrooms and more. This will be formalised in closed consultation with the medical fraternity
4) "Rogi Kalyan Samity will be revised to make it more inclusive through inclusion of all stakeholders", the minutes of the meeting stated
5) A Task Force headed by Chief Secretary, including, Home Secretary, Director General (DG) of Police, CP and representatives proposed by doctors to look into the safety and security of hospitals and colleges
6) Responsive grievance redressal mechanism for all medical colleges and hospitals
7) Junior doctors to join back duty
8) Doctors shared their disagreements "with regard to no disciplinary actions against DC Central and transfer of Health Secretary", stated the minutes of the meeting. More discussions on the same with be required. Also, the threat culture will be required via democratically elected student unions, Resident Doctors Associations (RDAs) and so on
