Junior doctors expressed dissatisfaction over the Supreme Court’s order to resume duties in Bengal. They asserted that they would continue their ‘cease work’ to demand justice for the RG Kar hospital victim. The medical professionals demanded the resignation of Bengal’s state secretary and director of health education. Media professionals said that they would organise a rally to ‘Swasthya Bhavan’ – the headquarters of the health department in Salt Lake – on Tuesday at around 1 pm.
The notice by Junior Doctors read. ‘After today’s Supreme Court hearing, we are deeply disheartened and aggrieved. We observed that there has been no progress in the investigation of the horrific rape and murder of Abhaya, which was taken over by the CBI’. It added, ‘From the High Court to the Supreme Court, and from Kolkata Police to the CBI, the investigation has been handed around, yet justice remains distant. Moreover, we saw the state government and its lawyer, Kapil Sibal, playing a disgraceful role in trying to stop and malign our movement by any means. They claim that due to the junior doctors’ strike, people are dying and patient services are being disrupted. We want to remind everyone clearly that patient services are operational in every medical college in the state, with senior doctors tirelessly providing care’.
This comes a day after the Indian Medical Association ( IMA ) expressed disappointment over the observations made by the Supreme Court during the hearing over the rape and murder case. The IMA Bengal also questioned the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) over its approach in this case. ‘No steps are being taken for timely justice’, said the medical body. It said in a statement, ‘We were eagerly waiting for the hearing of the Supreme Court today regarding the brutal murder and rape of an on-duty doctor in RG Kar Medical College dated 9th of August. We were expecting a positive outcome keeping in mind the brutality of the offense. However, we are totally disheartened by the proceedings of the court and CBI. No step was taken for a speedy trial to deliver justice to our colleague’.
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