West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to meet delegation of junior doctors on Monday at 3pm

Image Courtesy: PTI

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday called for a meeting tomorrow at state secretariat Nabanna at 3pm to meet a delegation of junior doctors. The West Bengal CM has accepted the junior doctors' demand of an open meeting. As many as two medical representatives from 14 colleges (28 persons) will meet the chief minister to end the impasse. The meeting will also be attended by Chief secretary, additional and principal secretary health and Director, Medical Education.

Earlier on Sunday, the agitating junior doctors of NRS Medical College in West Bengal had agreed to meet Mamata to end the impasse but stressed that the conversation cannot be held behind closed doors. "We are keen to end this impasse. We are ready to hold talks with the chief minister at a venue of her choice, provided it is held in the open, in the presence of media persons, and not behind closed doors," the doctors said. They came to the decision after a two-and-half-hour-long meeting of their governing body. The West Bengal CM had invited the agitators for closed-door talks on Saturday, but the offer was turned down by the doctors.

Junior doctors across the state are observing a strike in protest against an assault on two of their colleagues at the NRS, allegedly by the family members of a patient who died on Monday night. Meanwhile, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Sunday announced that it will hold a nationwide protest on Monday, adding that all the non-essential services, including OPDs, will be discontinued from 6 am during the protest. The IMA, however, said that casualty and emergency services will continue to function as usual.