On since September 10, the Swasthya Bhawan sit-in protests by protesting junior doctors was withdrawn today, Friday, September 20. Partial resumption of duty will follow.
The protest was organised to demand justice for Abhaya (name changed), the 31-year-old postgraduate trainee (PGT) female doctor who was raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal, on August 9.
To mark the ten-day sit-in protests at Swasthya Bhawan, Kolkata, the agitating doctors at 3 pm today, will be marching to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) office at the CGO Complex in Salt Lake.
"We will wait for a week for the West Bengal government to implement all its promises and if unfulfilled, we will resume 'cease work'," the doctors said.
This announcement came after Chief Secretary Manoj Pant released directives on the safety, security and conducive environment for healthcare professionals, in line with what doctors were demanding when they met him for a meeting on Wednesday, September 18.
"The arrests of ex-RG Kar principal Sandip Ghosh and Tala PS OC were also shots in the arm of our movement. We will, hence, end our stir here and return to essential services. But our fight is far from over," said Aniket Mahato, one of the agitating doctors.
The Abhaya medical camps, in the memory of the deceased doctor, have also been announced for flood affected regions of West Bengal.
