Senior Doctors Advise Junior Doctors to Continue Protests but Withdraw Full Strike

Senior doctors have stood by their junior counterparts since the beginning of the protests, supporting their cause. However, they are now urging junior doctors to reconsider their decision of continuing the full strike. During a meeting on Thursday at the RG Kar Medical College Auditorium, senior doctors advised junior doctors to find alternative ways to continue their protest without fully halting medical services. Senior doctor Tapas Pramanik, after leaving the meeting, said that while the final decision lies with the juniors, they should consider withdrawing the strike and exploring other forms of protest.

Some senior doctors have even suggested that the junior doctors should at least partially relax the strike, keeping in mind the welfare of patients. Senior doctor Maitreyee Banerjee emphasized that senior doctors are trying their best to maintain medical services, but the immense pressure in government hospitals is difficult to manage without the assistance of junior doctors.

Floods and Festival Season Add Pressure
Senior doctors also highlighted the ongoing flood situation in multiple regions of the state and the festive season. These external factors were presented to the junior doctors as reasons to reconsider the full strike. The seniors suggested that the junior doctors return to work while continuing their protest in other ways. However, they also reassured the juniors that they remain fully committed to supporting their demand for justice for the assaulted RG Kar colleague. One senior doctor remarked, “The protest will never stop. We demand justice, and we will continue until justice is served.” They proposed keeping the movement alive but replacing the full strike with alternative measures.

During the first round of strikes, senior doctors had managed to keep patient services functional despite the absence of junior doctors. They had worked extended hours to maintain services. During Thursday’s meeting, senior doctors reiterated that they would continue to provide services if the juniors extended the strike. However, they clarified that no decision was being imposed on junior doctors, and they were free to decide on the strike.

Background of the Strike
The junior doctors had initiated a complete strike demanding justice for the assaulted RG Kar colleague. They had partially returned to work on September 21 but resumed a full strike from October 1 in protest of an attack on doctors and healthcare workers at Sagar Dutta Hospital. The junior doctors have also raised 10 demands as part of this second full strike, which has raised questions among various sectors. Some senior doctors had expressed concerns about the decision to resume a full strike.

Internal Discussions and Alternative Protest Methods
The issue of continuing a full strike had also come up during the junior doctors’ General Body (GB) meeting after the Supreme Court hearing on September 30. Sources revealed that many in the GB did not support the decision to resume a full strike. The discussion focused on whether the protest could be carried out using alternative methods instead of the complete shutdown of services. This concern was echoed during Wednesday’s assembly, where the representative from the ‘Joint Platform of Doctors’, Punnyabrata Gun, suggested rethinking the protest strategy in consideration of public interest. He pointed out that there are several ways to keep the movement going without resorting to a full strike.