Striking docs to hold general body meet; to decide on whom to meet for talks

The protesting doctors in West Bengal Saturday said that they were open for talks but were yet to decide on the venue and on whether to meet West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee or Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi for negotiations.

Kolkata (West Bengal):Agitating doctors in West Bengal will be holding a general body meeting on Sunday to decide on whether to meet West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee or Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi for talks. They are also to finalise a venue for the meet.

The junior doctors Saturday said that they were open for talks, but were yet to decide on whom to meet.

They had earlier turned down an invite for a closed-door meeting with Banerjee at the state secretariat and had instead asked her to visit the NRS Medical College and Hospital for an open discussion to resolve the impasse.

"We are open for dialogue always. If the Chief Minister extends one hand we will extend 10 of ours... we are eagerly waiting to break the deadlock," said the spokesperson of a joint forum of junior doctors while addressing the media on Saturday night.

"We are eagerly waiting to start our duty, but from the chief minister's side there is no such honest initiative to find a solution," he added.

The agitating junior doctors also rubbished her claims that a few of their colleagues had visited her at the state secretariat.
Meanwhile, the doctors of Assam Medical College and Hospital, Dibrugarh also confirmed their participation in the nationwide 24-hour strike called by the Indian Medical Association from Monday evening.

The Ministry of Home Affairs issued an advisory seeking a report on the stir. But she reacted sharply to it and said such advisory should be "sent to states like Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat where several murders are reported since the last couple of years".

Bengal Governor K N Tripathi wrote to Banerjee advising her to take immediate steps to provide security to the medicos and find out a solution to the impasse.

The strike began on Monday night when two junior doctors of NRS hospital were injured in an attack by relatives of a patient who had died.