The Supreme Court is scheduled on September 17 to hear a suo motu case into the brutal rape and murder of a postgraduate doctor at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital even as protests continue unabated in West Bengal.
A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud had given the protesting doctors an ultimatum on September 9, the previous date of hearing, to rejoin duty the next day by 5 p.m.
However, the court’s deadline was not complied with, and the protests have refused to die down despite an effort by the Mamata Banerjee government to talk to the doctors.
On September 9, the court had cautioned the doctors that it would not be able to protect them from the State’s disciplinary action, including punitive transfers, if they continued their agitation beyond 5 p.m. on September 10.
The protesters had refused to budge. They had responded that the agitation was not hurting the public health care system. Senior doctors were pitching in. The resident doctors had stated their intention to not back down until their demands for safer work environment and basic infrastructure in public hospitals were met by the State government.
The State, represented by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, had claimed that 23 died for lack of treatment owing to the protests in the last one month of mass abstention of resident doctors who were the backbone of West Bengal’s health system.
“Where do we go from here? People are dying. There is only restricted access to specialty and super-specialty wards for the poor, especially in cancer treatment, cardiology and neurology. Stenting and angiography have been withheld for about 1,000 patients. People are forced to go to private hospitals… The resident doctors are the backbone of the public healthcare system,” Mr. Sibal had pleaded.
The government said it had initiated the installation of 6,178 additional CCTVs and 893 duty restrooms were under construction.
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The court had reached out to the doctors on September 9, assuring them it would do all in its powers to provide them a safe working environment.
‘Have to reciprocate’
But equally, the court had been firm, reminding them of their duty to the people.
“Doctors cannot remain oblivious to the needs of the community they are intended to serve. Doctors are in the system to render service to patients… We will provide every kind of security to the doctors, but they have to reciprocate,” Chief Justice Chandrachud had told the doctors’ side.
Besides seeking a confidential status report from the Central Bureau of Investigation on the progress made in the probe into the crime, the Bench had asked the State to put in motion the safety measures for doctors at work without waiting for the Supreme Court’s National Task Force to submit its report on reforms. It gave the West Bengal government a week to take necessary steps “to create a degree of confidence in the minds of the doctors that their concerns about their safety and security are really attended to”.
The court had directed the District Collectors and Superintendents of Police in each district across West Bengal to “take stock of the situation” at every public hospital and medical college and ensure that steps are taken for the safety of women doctors, including the provision of separate duty rooms, toilets and installation of CCTVs.
Published - September 16, 2024 04:13 pm IST
