KOLKATA: More than 50 senior doctors of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital Tuesday resigned en masse, a symbolic gesture intended as an appeal to Bengal govt to take immediate steps to end the fast-unto-death by seven junior doctors, whose health began deteriorating as the stir entered the fourth day.
The senior doctors also wrote to the director of medical education (DME), saying they were prepared to resign individually – an act that would go beyond symbolism.
The state govt did not respond to the resignations. Chief secretary Manoj Pant Tuesday met senior health officials, including RG Kar Medical College principal Manas Bandyopadhyay. TMC, however, questioned the symbolic “mass resignation“, alleging the senior doctors were acting as provocateurs. “They are signing a piece of paper and smiling at cameras. Is this being responsible? They are provoking junior doctors. They have their political interests,” former TMC Rajya Sabha MP Kunal Ghosh said.
Faculty members of two other state-run hospitals – Medical College Hospital and IPGMER – also wrote to DME with a 24-hour deadline, saying they too would resign Wednesday if steps were not taken. Faculty members of NRS Medical College Hospital said they might make a similar move.
The protesting junior doctors have given the state govt a 10-point charter of demands.
Explaining how mass resignations are symbolic, a govt official said govt rules specify that resignations are to be submitted individually, in specified formats. “A letter addressed to DME with 40-50 doctors saying they will resign is unacceptable,” the official said, adding that govt can decide whether to “accept” the resignations. Premature resignations could bar the person from applying for other govt jobs, the official said.