Mamata Banerjee asks health secretary to 'be serious', says senior govt docs should put in 8 hours before private practice

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday met with more than 2,000 junior and senior doctors from across the state at the Dhano Dhanyo Auditorium in Kolkata. This was the largest gathering of medical professionals she addressed since the RG Kar incident and the controversy surrounding the maternal death at Midnapore Medical College & Hospital.

Doctors from various organisations, including those actively involved in the protests following the RG Kar incident, attended the meeting. However, the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front (WBJDF), which played a leading role in the demonstrations, chose to boycott the event.

CM Banerjee began her speech by extending condolences to the family of the RG Kar victim. She recalled personally joining protests to demand justice and highlighted her government’s introduction of the anti-rape Aparajita Bill.

During the RG Kar protests, junior doctors strongly demanded the removal of Narayan Swaroop Nigam, the principal secretary of the West Bengal Health and Family Welfare Department. Although their request was not granted, the chief minister on Monday urged the secretary to be more efficient. "Narayan, please be serious," CM Banerjee said.

"I have assigned 8-10 IAS officers and doctors for you. There is always difference of opinion among you all. Please increase communication and work properly," she added. The chief minister also said that due to one or two bad works by the health department, the state has earned bad names.

She also addressed concerns about senior doctors delegating patient care to junior doctors in government hospitals. She pointed out that, according to the state government, the maternal death at MMCH resulted from junior doctors being left in charge of a C-section rather than the use of banned saline, as initially alleged.

She appealed the senior doctors to work for at least eight hours in government hospitals. “After that you can carry on with your private practice. I don’t have any problem with that,” she said.
She then announced that suspensions of six junior doctors at the MMCH were being revoked.

The chief minister declared that the suspensions of six junior doctors at MMCH were being revoked as she felt they were wrongly put in charge and they were still in their learning phases.

Another key takeaway from the meeting was her announcement of a salary increase for all government trainee doctors and interns. With this decision, she has aimed to restore her administration’s cordial relationship with the medical community, which had been significantly affected by the RG Kar protests.

The salaries of post-graduate trainee (PGT) doctors and interns were increased by ₹10,000, while senior resident doctors received a ₹15,000 hike.

“The salary of diploma senior residential doctors will increase from ₹65,000 to ₹80,000. For post-graduate senior residential doctors, it will rise from ₹70,000 to ₹85,000,” CM Banerjee said.