'Not Valid, Must Be Submitted Individually': Mamata-Led Bengal Govt Rejects Doctors' Mass Resignation

People come to support junior doctors sitting on a hunger strike demanding justice for the RG Kar rape-murder case, in Kolkata on Friday. (ANI Photo)

RG Kar Protests: The Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government on Saturday said the mass resignation of doctors of state-run hospitals is not valid and it must be submitted individually according to service rules.

Speaking to the reporters, chief advisor to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Alapan Bandyopadhyay said that the resignation letter is not considered till the time it has been sent by the employee personally. 

"Unless an employee sends in his/her resignation personally to the employer as per service rules, it is not a resignation letter," told reporters at the state secretariat Nabanna in Kolkata.

This comes after several doctors from state-run hospitals submitted collectively signed "resignation" letters to the state government seeking justice for the 31-year-old post-graduate trainee medic who was raped and murdered at Kolkata's R G Kar Medical College and Hospital and in support of junior doctors on a fast-unto-death to press for their demands.

He further clarified that the letters sent by the medics were merely collective signatures without addressing specific issues.

Bandyopadhyay laid emphasis on the government's intention to clarify the situation amidst confusion regarding the mass resignations by senior doctors from various government hospitals, including R. G. Kar Medical College, IPGMER, and SSKM Hospital.

Earlier this week, a group of senior doctors at R. G. Kar Medical College sent a collectively signed "mass resignation" letter in solidarity with their protesting junior colleagues. Subsequently, similar letters were sent by doctors from other state-run hospitals.

Junior doctors at several government hospitals in the state are on a fast-unto-death demand demanding justice for their murdered colleague, the resignation of the state’s health secretary, and enhanced workplace security. 

The TMC government in the state asserted that healthcare services in state-run hospitals have not been disrupted, as senior doctors continue to work normally. The junior doctors had called off their 'total cease work' at state-run medical colleges and hospitals on October 4.

The mass resignations are being interpreted as a symbolic gesture of solidarity from senior doctors with their junior counterparts, the government said.

(With PTI Inputs)