Two lakh for kin of patients dying due to ‘disruption’ of health services: Bengal government

West Bengal government offers financial relief to families of deceased doctors amid ongoing protests and controversy

A day after the talks between protesting resident doctors and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee failed over the insistence of the doctors to live-stream the discussion, the State government on Friday (September 13, 2024) announced a financial relief to families whose kin have died due to “disruption” of health services.

The Chief Minister said that “29 precious lives have been lost due to disruption in health services because of long drawn cease work by junior doctors”. “In order to extend a helping hand to the bereaved families, the State Government announces a token financial relief of ₹2 lakh to family members of each deceased person,” Ms. Banerjee wrote on social media. The protesting resident doctors have rejected the claims by the State government that patients are dying because of their strike.

In another development, the Kolkata Police have registered a case of unnatural death after a four-year-old child died at the NRS Medical College and Hospital. According to a senior officer of the Kolkata Police, no pediatrician was present at the hospital when the child was brought in for treatment.

The protesting junior doctors have written to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking their intervention in the imbroglio.

“In these sordid times and the grim circumstances, we humbly place the aforementioned issues before your Esteemed Excellency, as the Head of State, so that our unfortunate colleague who has been the victim of the most despicable crime shall receive justice, and so that we, the healthcare professionals under the West Bengal Health Department, may be able to discharge our duties to the public without fear of apprehension,” read the letter addressed to the President by West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front.

The resident doctors, who have been protesting outside Swasthya Bhawan, the State Health Department headquarters, continued their stir on Friday (September 13, 2024) demanding justice for the deceased doctor of R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital and raised several other demands including removal of Kolkata Police Commissioner and officials of the Health Department.

Senior doctors of State-run hospitals have come in support of protesting doctors and warned the State government that if any action is taken against the resident doctors, they will also join the strike.