In the latest development, Mamata Banerjee and protesting doctors concluded their nearly two-hour meeting on Monday after the West Bengal government accepted the conditions of protesting RG Kar junior doctors for the meeting. The junior doctors, after the consensus, reached Mamata's residence for the meeting in the evening.
The latest talk comes after four unsuccessful bids to initiate a dialogue to resolve the deadlock. The delegation of around 30 junior doctors was escorted by a pilot police vehicle to Banerjee's residence at 6.20 pm. The meeting, which was originally scheduled at 5 pm, began around 7 pm.
Email exchange between Chief Secretary and medics
Earlier in the day, the junior doctors had sent an email describing their conditions for the meeting. In its reply, West Bengal Chief Secretary Manoj Pant accepted the condition that the representatives of both parties will sign the minutes at the end of the meeting and copies will be shared with each party to ensure clarity and agreement on the discussions.
If this takes place, the meeting will end the impasse which lasted for days. Junior doctors were given several invitations to meet with CM Mamata, however, the meeting was not conducted even once. Earlier today, the government sent a fresh invite to the protesting doctors, to which doctors replied with certain conditions.
In their mail to the Chief Secretary, junior doctors said, "We would like to reiterate that after the last proposed meeting, two significant developments happened." Junior doctors emphasised that after the last proposed meeting, two arrests, former principal Sandeep Ghosh and TALA PS OC, have been made. The doctors highlighted, "These two new developments increase the significance of transparency of the meeting even more than before."
Conditions of junior doctors for meeting
To conduct the meeting, the doctors urged the government to accept one of the proposed three conditions. The conditions of the doctors were:
- Videography of the meeting by a separate videographer by both parties.
- The entire video file of the meeting is to be handed over to WBJDF representatives immediately after the meeting
- Minutes with full transcript of the meeting to be recorded and formulated by both the parties and duly signed by all attendees and handed over at the end of the meeting.
