The meeting between the doctors, who have been on strike since the Kolkata incident, and the Mamata government could not take place on Thursday as well. Mamata Banerjee waited for two hours for the meeting to be held in the conference hall of Nabanna, but the doctors were adamant about live streaming of the talks and refused to enter the conference hall. After this, the meeting was cancelled late in the evening. On the other hand, Bengal Governor CV Anand Bose said that he will socially boycott CM Mamata Banerjee.
In fact, after waiting for about two hours for the agitating doctors to arrive, Mamata Banerjee held a press conference and said that she also wants the victim to get justice and apologized to the people of West Bengal for the deadlock continuing. The Chief Minister of West Bengal said that she is ready to resign for the sake of the people. Earlier, a video of the conference hall also surfaced, in which Mamata Banerjee was seen waiting for the delegation of junior doctors amidst empty chairs.
Mamata government had called the doctors for talks for the third time. The government had accepted the doctors’ demand for the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the meeting, but rejected their condition of live streaming the meeting and decided to allow only 15 doctors instead of the delegation of 30 protesting doctors. However, the Chief Secretary said that on Thursday a delegation of 32 members instead of 15 had arrived for the meeting, which was also given permission. But the doctors were adamant about live streaming and did not go inside the conference hall.
Mamata apologized to the people with folded hands
In the press conference, the Chief Minister folded her hands and apologised to the people of Bengal for the impasse and requested the doctors to return to work. He said that we waited for 2 hours for a meeting with the doctors. We saw that there was no response from their side. We had asked them to come with an open mind for the talks. A solution can be found only if there is a dialogue. Earlier on another occasion, I had waited to join the talks. Never mind, I forgive them because they are very young. We had a complete system to record the meeting. For transparency and accurate documentation of the process and we were also ready to share the recording with the permission of the Supreme Court.
She said that I will instruct the Chief Secretary and Health Secretary to hold a meeting with the doctors whenever they are ready. I know that most of the doctors were interested in this meeting, but we have come to know that a handful of people want to create a deadlock. Still, we do not want to implement ESMA.
‘I don’t want the CM’s chair’
The CM said that when the matter is sub judice, we cannot discuss the minute details of the case like this. That is why we had the facility to record the proceedings. I had decided that we will pass a resolution in memory of the deceased victim and Sitaram Yechury who left us today. We also want justice but the case is no longer with us but with the CBI. We also think about live telecast with an open mind but there are some legal constraints as the case is sub judice.
He said that I am ready to leave the chair for the sake of justice for the common people, but they do not want justice, they just want the chair. I do not want the CM’s chair, but I want justice for the victim.
We could have also held a joint press conference: Mamata Banerjee
She said that I respect the movement. I sat on a hunger strike for 26 days, but no minister of the Left Front government came for talks. I am even ready to resign for justice for the common people, but they do not want justice, they only want the chair. They could have raised this issue in the meeting. They could have met the press after that and we could have also held a joint press conference. We expected an open dialogue in the interest of doctors and patients. I am saying again that we will not take any action against them. We had called a delegation of 15 doctors, but they came with 34 doctors and still we decided to hold a meeting. But even then they refused to enter the meeting hall.
He said that we did not call other top officials of the health department to facilitate the meeting. In the last one month, 27 patients have died due to lack of medical services in government hospitals. Recently an accident patient died without treatment in RG Kar, what about his mother? What happened to his family? My heart cries for everyone. Doctors are like God. They save lives. And like some other services, they are also an emergency service.
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