New Delhi: As Bengal continues to be on the boil, the Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognisance of the brutal gangrape and murder of a doctor at the state government hospital. The matter will be heard by a bench of Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud on Tuesday, August 20.
The West Bengal government on Saturday (August 17) evening cancelled the transfer order of 42 senior doctors after facing pressure from the ongoing doctors’ protests.
On Friday night, the state medical education service issued a notice transferring at least 42 doctors, mostly from the rank of associate professor and above. Among them, 12 were transferred outside Kolkata.
Since the rape and murder of a doctor at Kolkata’s R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, West Bengal doctors have been agitating on the streets for a proper investigation into the case and improving the working conditions of healthcare professionals.
This has fuelled agitations and sit-ins across the country, with the Indian Medical Association also announcing the withdrawal of non-emergency medical services for 24 hours on Saturday.
“We strongly [condemn] @MamataOfficial @BengalGovernor unjust transfer of faculty members who supported our protest. These punitive measures will not silence our demands for justice and security. We stand united and resolute in our fight,” the United Doctors’ Front Association said on X on Friday.
We strongly condemns @MamataOfficial @BengalGovernor unjust transfer of faculty members who supported our protest.These punitive measures will not silence our demands for justice and security.We stand united and resolute in our fight.@ANI @PTI_News @HMOIndia @PMOIndia @AmitShah pic.twitter.com/Ueklz8P7pb
— UNITED DOCTORS FRONT ASSOCIATION (@udfaindia) August 16, 2024
They also condemned the state government’s decision to transfer 190 women health assistants and asked it to reinstate them.
There were also reports that junior doctors at the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital gheraoed the management over the transfer of three professors.
Kolkata-based newspaper The Telegraph claimed, citing sources, that chief minister Mamata Banerjee – who heads the health ministry – was not happy with the timing of the transfer order. “The transfers may have been pre-planned but the time of the transfer was not appropriate,” a senior official in the health department said.
On Saturday evening, West Bengal health secretary Narayan Swaroop Nigam held a press conference to withdraw the order, explaining that the decision had been made two months earlier.
“The transfer process being mentioned actually began almost two months before the incident at R.G. Kar on August 9. In fact, the authorities concerned had given approval for the transfer orders well in advance. However, due to corrections needed in important matters, including the spelling of names, the issuance of the transfer orders was delayed. Nonetheless, we are now withdrawing that order as well,” Nigam was quoted as saying by The Telegraph.
Opposition parties in the state had protested the transfer of the doctors, claiming that it was punishment for their taking part in the movement. After the order was withdrawn, they claimed that the state government was unsettled by the protests.