West Bengal Medicos Stand Firm: Hunger Strike at Crossroads

Junior doctors in West Bengal are attending a government meeting to discuss their demands, primarily the removal of the state health secretary. The outcome will influence their indefinite hunger strike post-colleague's murder, amid escalating protests and demands for improved healthcare conditions and elections in medical colleges.

Agitating junior doctors in West Bengal have agreed to attend a crucial meeting with the state government on Monday, with the resolution of this meeting dictating whether they will end their ongoing hunger strike. The protest initially stemmed from the alleged rape-murder of a colleague at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has urged the doctors to end their fast, assuring them that most of their demands have been addressed, yet she refutes the call for the state health secretary's resignation. The medics maintain that without his removal, their protest will persist.

The striking doctors' demands include better healthcare conditions, a centralised referral system, a vacant bed monitoring system, and improved security measures in hospitals. An escalation, potentially involving wider strikes across the state's medical professionals, looms if the meeting fails to meet their expectations.

(With inputs from agencies.)